The crash which left nine other KDF officers dead has triggered concerns that taxpayers could be getting a raw deal in the highly secretive purchases.
The chopper was a Bell UH 1H. It was among those acquired from the US in 2016. KDF-Kenya Air Force took delivery of six Bell UH-1H Huey II helicopters.
The problems range from helicopters that fail to glide after developing technical problems to armoured personal carriers that are reduced to nothing even by the smallest of IEDs. Not all procurement is faulty.
There are concerns security sector players procure at their whims, disregard the law and are not transparent, citing ‘matters of national security’, sometimes justified, sometimes not.
The police Air Wing department is technically dead with only four operational aircraft, which are not in possession, out of the 24 that were acquired in 2010.
The remaining 20 are either unserviceable or have been declared ‘dead’. Some have crashed in circumstances that spark concerns about quality.
Apart from the chopper crash that killed Ogolla and all but two of his entourage, accidents involving military aircraft have been on the rise.
At least five choppers have crashed in the last three years, raising questions about their safety.
Alego Usonga MP Samuel Atandi said heads need to roll, emphasising that the billions that MPs appropriate towards KDF procurements cannot be spent unchecked.
According to the 2024 Budget Policy Statement, the proposed ceiling for the Ministry of Defence is Sh198.57 billion.
The budget plan says the money is used for military recruitment and to upgrade modernisation of equipment and systems.
“The National Assembly appropriates a lot of resources to the military and it ends up buying rundown choppers …it is riddled with corruption and we never question them,” the MP said.
A 2021 special audit of KDF procurement, albeit on foodstuffs, pointed out many irregularities with purchases by the military.
Auditor General Nancy Gathungu said her review established that tenders have been awarded to firms that have not been pre-qualified.
It also established KDF has often used a restricted tendering method without justification.
In these cases, the chief of logistics simply seeks the approval of the accounting officer after identifying a supplier of a particular product.
“No explanation and justification was provided on why the Defence ministry used such methods, which are contrary to the law,” the audit report reads.
The report also revealed that tenders are evaluated haphazardly and that tenders have even been awarded to non-responsive suppliers.
The Defence ministry was also found to be ignoring directives from the Public Procurement and Administrative Review Board.
Also flagged were irregularities in contract management, with the auditor cited cases of unsigned contracts and irregular price adjustments.
The auditor said KDF runs a centralised procurement system, and has been largely using restricted tendering for its purchases.
Questions abound whether the ministry has been conducting due diligence on the purchases of its assets.
In November 2023, a KDF Fennec chopper hit a power cable and crashed in the Kisamis area, Kajiado West, critically injuring two KDF pilots.
In the same month, another military chopper crashed moments after take-off from Buna Hospital in Wajir North.
An undisclosed number of people aboard the Mi17 Kenya Air Force chopper were injured in the crash.
This was barely four months after a similar one came tumbling down after it hit a tree during takeoff at Chemolingot Stadium in Baringo county.
It carried officials who had accompanied Defence Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale on a security tour of the volatile region. They escaped unhurt.
Two months later after the July accident, at least eight Kenya Defence Forces personnel were killed in a helicopter crash in Lamu county.
The Kenya Air Force Huey helicopter crashed at night while on patrol, according to a KDF statement.
In 2021, 10 Kenya Air Force personnel died while 13 others were critically injured after a military chopper crashed in Oltepesi, Kajiado county.
There are also concerns that reports of the investigations into the crashes are rarely made public.
Defence Committee Chairman Nelson Koch (Begot MP) said they are concerned about the quality of security infrastructure.
“The capacity of our military equipment is something of concern. We will endeavour to get to the bottom of this as we also look into the funding of security infrastructure,” he said.
Eldas MP Adan Keynan blamed the situation on inadequate funding, forcing the military to purchase what they can afford.
“Let us give adequate funding to them so that they can buy better ones …not these refurbished, third-rate choppers they buy,” he said.
Kilgore’s MP Julius Spunkily also said the investigation into the Ogolla crash should focus on equipment used by soldiers.
A task force chaired by former Chief Justice David Maraga on police reforms also highlighted how corruption has hampered operations.
“Endemic corruption also permeates other aspects of the service’s operations. Transfers, deployments, promotions, as well as procurement are riddled with corruption,” the report reads.
Several armoured personnel carriers are also considered substandard, with many already grounded despite being bought less than five years ago.
Several Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (M-RAP) vehicles have been torn apart in terror attacks.
