•The report says there were no minutes provided to support the award and payment of the two firms.
•The committee also found out that there was no evidence to show that the goods were taken on charge as required under Section 159 (1) of the Act.
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A parliamentary committee has raised concern over the payment of Sh46 million to two firms for the supply of fabric for police uniforms.
The Public Accounts Committee, in a 2018/19 report tabled on Tuesday last week has fingered Principal Secretary for the state department of public service and youth Mary Kimonye for authorizing the payment outside the normal procurement process.
The committee found that the two suppliers were each paid Sh23.4 million for delivery of medium blue textile materials on February 18, 2019, through a “professional opinion” award on February 1, the same year.
“Although there were negotiations on pricing, which was agreed of Sh390, no minutes of the negotiation has been provided to support the award and payment,” reads the report tabled for adoption.
It notes that the payment voucher was also not supported by an inspection and acceptance certificate as required under the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act.
“Further there was no evidence to show that the goods were taken on charge as required under Section 159 (1) of the Act,” it reads.
The committee could also not confirm whether the procurement process adhered to the provisions of the procurement laws and if the pricing of the goods was competitive.
The actions by the accounting officer, the committee observed, were in breach of the Public finance management Act due to her failure to avail of the supporting documents and financial statements within three months after the lapse of the financial year.
The committee, however, pointed out that the PS later availed minutes of a negotiation meeting held at the National Youth Service boardroom on January 30, 2019, where the agreement was arrived at to have the payment approved.
In July 2019, NYS director-general Matilda Sakwa said it had delivered 20,000 uniforms to the Kenya Police Service as the first consignment with another 3,000 sets to be delivered within that same period.
President Uhuru Kenyatta announced the change of the uniform in September 2018 as part of the changes in the service which included the renaming of key training institutions.
About 60, 000 general duty officers were expected to don the new Persian blue uniform but a complete phase-out is yet to be realized.
Former police spokesman Charles Owino had in 2019 stated that all the officers will have to wait for two years to get the locally manufactured uniform.