• Pamela Kaburu said in Parliament on Tuesday that she was ordered by suspended CEO Jonah Manjari to indicate Shop N Buy’s letter had been written on April 30.
• Kaburu told PIC that she once found Juma crying in his office following pressure from unknown quarters.
Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A
A secretary linked to Kemsa Sh7.8 billion PPE saga has admitted she was instructed to backdate a commitment letter for one of the firms at the centre of the probe.
Pamela Kaburu said in Parliament on Tuesday that she was ordered by suspended CEO Jonah Manjari to indicate Shop N Buy’s letter had been written on April 30.
The firm is among those being probed by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission for its role in the questionable purchases that left Kemsa with a Sh6.2 billion debt.
Kaburu told the Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir-led Public Investments Committee that the letter to the three-month-old firm for Sh900 million worth of supplies had been dated May 8.
She said she found Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja in Manjari’s office when she delivered the commitment letter to Shop N Buy.
The senator earlier told the Star he was at Kemsa in his capacity as then chairperson of the Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Covid-19.
The secretary said she had no alternative but to obey the orders and that she could not question Manjari over the move since he was her boss.
Kaburu said her immediate boss Charles Juma (suspended procurement director), also told her it was okay “since she had been instructed to write the letter.”
“I only wrote one letter. I can’t know if there were others that were also backdated in a similar fashion. It is possible, though, that some were backdated at the CEO’s office since they had the template,” she told MPs.
Kaburu said a number of commitment letters were issued by Manjari without the knowledge of the procurement office.
She told PIC that she once found Juma crying in his office following pressure from unknown quarters.
“It is true my boss was under intense pressure…I once found him crying in his office…he told me that he wants to resign,” Kaburu said.
“I told him not to quit because he has children who need his presence as a father. We prayed together and I went back to work,” she said, adding that the CEO could get calls off the normal work schedule to issue letters to suppliers.
While before the committee last week, Juma said eight firms were awarded tenders without his knowledge afterwards.
The firms are Regal Freighters (Sh270 million), Northlink GSC Ltd (Sh135 million), Meraky Healthcare (Sh340 million), Everywhere Distributors Ltd (Sh118 million), La Miguela Holdings (Sh180 million), Medilife Biologicals Ltd (Sh240 million) and Komtel Kenya Ltd (Sh283 million).
The procurement manager said it was Manjari who issued a commitment letter to Kilig Ltd without reference to procurement. The commitment was cancelled.
PIC has taken submissions from Juma, Health PS Susan Mochache, Manjari, suspended commercial services director Eliud Mureithi and Kemsa board chaired by former Embu Senator Kembi Gitura.
The committee is seeking to unravel the faces behind the mess that has already cost Kenyans Sh2.3 billion loss in the purchases.
The directors of at least 14 companies mentioned in the Kemsa saga are expected to appear before the PIC on Thursday and Friday.