Kilifi Governor Gideon Mung'aro /FILE
Taxpayers may have lost more than Sh1billion in a controversial tender signed between the Kilifi government and a private firm to collect revenue at the onset of devolution.
Raindrops Limited was contracted by the County Government of Kilifi to automate and collect revenue, including cess and parking fees during the tenure of Amason Kingi, who is now Senate Speaker.
On Monday, Governor Gideon Mung’aro said he had complied with Senate directive to terminate dealings with the firm.
Mung’aro explained that the firm had been deducting Sh4 million every month from September 2016, following a dispute that was taken to court.
The high court had directed a SBM Bank to pay Raindrops the Sh4 million per month from an escrow account operated by both the county and the firm even as the case proceeded.
The Governor told the Senate County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC) that he had protested the payments after taking office while the county appealed the order which was not set aside.
As a result, the county entered a consent to pay the firm Sh601 million in addition to a nearly Sh400 million that the company has been paid in the last 10 years.
The firm was demanding over Sh2 billion for breach of contract, a claim the governor described as outrageous.
The senators demanded to be furnished with information on the directors of the firm and officials who were in office when the tender was signed.
Governor Mung’aro told the Moses Kajwang’-led CPAC that Speaker Kingi maybe in a potation to answer some of the queries they were raising as he oversaw the implementation of the deal.
“Some of the officials who may have the answers are in this house Mr chairman. One is the Speaker of the Senate while the former County Attorney also works for this house while the third one is a member of the National Assembly,” he said.
Isiolo Senator Fatuma Dullo demanded details on the directors and beneficial owners of the firm as she sought to know the people behind the deal.
“I don’t have the CR12 here but Mr Chairman during the negotiations, lawyer Taib Ali Tab who is well known was appearing for the company. We only know one director called Sharrif and there maybe other shareholders,” Mung'aro said.
He told the legislators that the county was working with the Ethics and Anti-Corruptions Commission (EACC) as it eeks to get into the bottom of the dispute.
It’s then that the Senators resolved to invite both the EACC and Auditor General to conduct a forensic audit into the deal and appear before them with a detailed report.
