- Mugwe told Magistrate Thomas Nzyuki that it was not proper for the tendering of the roads to be opened due to lack of a budget.
- He also confirmed that it was not the role of the county secretary to table the cabinet paper, but his.
Image: FILE
Former Kiambu county Roads executive has told an anti-corruption court that there was no budgetary allocation for upgrading roads in former governor Ferdinand Waititu Sh588 million graft case.
John Gathigi Mugwe was testifying against the former governor, his wife Susan Wangari and 11 others in the trial over the irregular award of roads tender.
Mugwe told magistrate Thomas Nzyuki that it was not proper for the tendering of the roads to be opened due to lack of a budget.
He said the cabinet paper which proposed improvement of county gravel roads was never tabled for discussion yet the improvements were done. The paper was dated January 24, 2018.
The court heard that the witness was approached by Waititu regarding the use of technology on the roads.
At the same time preparation of the cabinet paper was done by Lucas Wahinya, former Roads and Public Works chief officer.
Wahinya, an accused person in the case, was acting on the governor and Mugwe’s instructions.
Mugwe testified that once the paper was done, it was forwarded to him through an email on January 29, 2018. He responded the following day.
The paper had details seeking to have the executive committee approve the improvement of the 21km roads of gravel to bituminous standard.
He asked Wahinya to improve and give background information regarding the roads.
Mugwe later sought the advice of the county secretary on when they could table the cabinet paper but he never received any feedback.
He also confirmed it was not the role of the county secretary to table the cabinet paper, but his.
He travelled to Israel between February 12-18, 2018 for official duties. When he came back, he found tenders had been opened and evaluation of bids underway.
“I’m not aware of any cabinet meeting held between when I sent the paper to the county secretary to the time tendering was opened. If there was any meeting, I would have been informed,” he said.
The witness further denied claims by the defence team that his testimony is a way of seeking vengeance against the former county chief after he was relieved from his duties in 2018.
The last time the matter was in court, the witness said Charles Chege and Beth Wangeci Mburu submitted forged CVs and degree certificates of its technical staff to secure the tender.
The two are directors of Testimony Enterprises Limited, a company implicated in the case.
The tender in question was issued on February 12, 2018, and awarded to Testimony Enterprise after quoting Sh588 million.
After the award, the company allegedly gave Waititu a kickback of Sh25.6 million.
The tender was for upgrading of various gravel roads in Thika, Limuru, Gatundu North, Juja, and Ruiru subcounties during the financial year 2017-18.
(Edited by Tabnacha O)