The Crops Department in the Ministry of Agriculture irregularly hired helicopters on two separate contracts for Sh252 million, Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has said.
In the first contract, the department hired the helicopters for locust surveillance services in Isiolo, Marsabit, Nakuru, Eldoret, and Kerio Valley regions at Sh103 million.
Gathungu has flagged the spending, saying there was no tender evaluation report and recommendations for the award.
The ministry was led by Mwangi Kiunjuri until January 2020 when he was fired and replaced by Peter Munya.
In a report of the department’s accounts for the year to June 2020, Gathungu said that one of the tenderers was not licensed to operate an aircraft. It used the registration certificate of another firm.
A review of the bids also revealed that the other tenderer did not have a valid operator certificate authorising it to undertake commercial air transport operations.
The Civil Aviation (Licensing of Air Services) Regulations, 2018, prohibit the provision of air services by any person that is not licensed by the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority.
The regulations further provide that a licence is not transferrable or assignable and also requires prior approval by the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority for any air carrier to use an aircraft from another carrier.
The department explained that they did not put it as a mandatory requirement that the bidder must provide a certificate of registration from KCAA.
But the auditor says that the move was in contravention of provisions of the Public Procurement and Disposal Act, 2015.
The law requires the prequalification document to include instructions on the preparation of the applications, including any standard forms to be submitted and the documentary evidence and information required from candidates.
In the second contract, the department spent Sh149.7 million World Bank cash for the hire of copter services from two firms appointed through direct procurement.
Gathungu said the records for the tendering were, however, not made available for audit and that there was no disclosure of the negotiations with the winning bidders.
The law requires that such negotiations with the contractor are disclosed whenever a direct procurement method is used.
The auditor said the existence of the contracts could not be confirmed. No information was provided on how the evaluation committee was appointed.
“Further, the contracts, signed between the accounting officer, State Department for Crop Development and the two firms were not availed for audit.”
There were neither record on requisitions for the use of the helicopters nor manifests to indicate the persons ferried and flight routes taken.
The auditor said there was a problem much as the management explained that the World Bank authorised the use of the funds under the contingency emergency response component.
“In view of these anomalies, it is not possible to confirm that value for money was attained on the expenditure totalling Sh149,680,800 incurred on the hire of the helicopter services from the two firms,” Gathungu said.
In a separate query, the auditor flagged the expenditure of Sh609.5 million on the purchase of chemicals to fight locusts across the country.
This followed an audit inspection, which revealed that the chemicals were still held in the stores at Kabete several months after delivery.
She warned that the items may expire before use and, therefore, taxpayers may not derive value for money from the procurement.
The 13 companies that supplied the items through restricted tender had been paid Sh498 million, leaving a balance of Sh111.5 million as pending bills.
Gathungu said no explanation was provided for the non-utilisation of the chemicals.
“The substantial expenditure on the chemicals cannot be ascertained as a proper charge to public funds,” the auditor said.
Also queried is an expenditure of Sh400 million under the Kenya Climate-Smart Agriculture Project on pesticides for use in combating locust invasions.
The procurement of the pesticides was done in March 2020 and payment to the supplier made on June 30, 2020.
The auditor said the firm that was awarded the tender is not listed in the register for suppliers of the project.
The audit further revealed that the estimated value of the goods was more than the prescribed maximum value of Sh1 million for requests for quotations.
The procurement was found to be contrary to the World Bank Procurement Guidelines and the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015.
The law only allows the use of request for quotations for procuring limited quantities of readily available off-the-shelf goods and commodities.
Further, there was no evidence on record to confirm that the supplier confirmed in writing the receipt of the purchase order issued by the department, Gathungu said.
(edited by o. owino)
