Africa-Press – Kenya. Siaya County government procured furniture worth Sh 11.3 million for Deputy Governor William Oduol’s office irregularly, the County Assembly heard on Tuesday.
A select committee of Siaya county assembly that is investigating allegations facing the DG tabled by East Asembo MCA Gordon Onguru heard that an orthopaedic surgical chair was part of the furniture which was bought at Sh 1.2 million.
The County Government also procured a coffee table for the DG’s office at a cost of Sh 1 million.
This was despite the fact that the Department of Governance where the office of the DG is domiciled had no budget for the items.
The acting chief officer for governance Jared Abayo told the 14-member committee chaired by Yimbo East MCA Francis Otiato that the department had only a projection of Sh 5 million for furniture in the 2022/2023 financial year.
He further told the committee that renovation of the DG’s office at a Cost of Sh 4.9 million had not been factored into the budget.
To source funds towards the two projects, Amayo told the committee that the department was forced to prepare a supplementary budget or reallocate funds from other items in the department.
“We had to shelve the construction of public service board boardroom, the construction of the sub-county offices, and the construction of the county complex which were already in the budget to give room for the renovation and purchase of furniture,” he said.
Cumulatively, according to the chief officer, a total of Sh11.3 million was spent on the furniture; Sh 7 million went to the renovation of the DG’s office.
During the session which was attended by the DG accompanied by three lawyers led by advocate Paul Nyamodi, it emerged that the assembly had rejected the inclusion of renovations in the supplementary budget.
This was an observation made by a member of the committee Ben Adala who is the North Ugenya MCA.
“In the supplementary budget, this item(renovation of the DG’s office)was not the assembly had rejected the project because the renovation was not an emergency,” Adala said.
The committee chair also pinned down the chief officer wondering how the Sh18 million will be paid to the contractor and the supplier if the works were done outside the law.
“The works were contracted outside the law. The assembly won’t put money to pay for it. How will u pay for it?” Otiato posed.
According to the county secretary Joseph Ogutu, there were repairs that were to be done in September when the new administration came into office.
Ogutu told the committee that the DG upon assuming office was concerned by the status of the office.
“He informed me about it. However, On the 4th of October, I proceeded on compulsory leave. I was not around because I came back when the work was already done,” he said.
Ogutu informed the committee that because there was no provision for the renovations, the department was to get an allocation either through a supplementary budget or by relocating money from other items already budgeted for.
“These were supposed to be basic repairs. Broken tiles on the floor and ceiling boards that were falling apart,” Ogutu said.
He said the DG was three weeks in office when he rang him to notify him of the renovation issue.
The CS said reallocation could be done by the department upon approval by the CEC finance.
“By law, we can’t procure with no budget. Before I proceeded for leave, no reallocation had been done in regards to the project,” he said.
During the proceedings, the director of procurement Martin Okwata and the acting chief officer of governance told the committee that the DG had no involvement in the procurement process.
“I’m not aware of the DG’s involvement in the procurement process for his office renovation,” Abayo said.
Okwata, who is the director of procurement in the county told the committee that the DG had no role in procurement processes in regards to the renovations and procurement of furniture.
“We received a request from the department. It was awarded through Open tender. We placed the tender advertisement through the website and portal,” Okwata said.
According to the director of procurement, funding for DG’s furniture was inadequate since the entire department had only Sh 5 million to spend.
“The DG had no role in the procurement/ tender process,” he reiterated.
However, it emerged that officers from the DG’s office were involved in the procurement process for the renovation and purchase of furniture.
Apart from one officer from the procurement department, the rest of the officers who opened the tenders, evaluated the bids and went on to inspect them were all from the DG’s office.
The procurement director told the committee that it was not in order to have those who took part in the tender opening proceed to evaluation and inspection.
“For example after the opening stage, at least one person shouldn’t proceed to evaluation or inspection stages,” Okwata said.
He said that the tender Committee should have been composed of members from the procurement department unless the process required technical assistance.
In the proceedings, it emerged that names of the same officers took part in every stage of the tendering, from the opening to the evaluation and inspection stages.
This made it possible to favour whoever won the two tenders.
It also emerged that the director of the two companies that renovated the office and supplied chairs was the same person.
The director of procurement however defended the process of the procurement saying it was above board.
He also defended the cost of the expensive surgical chair bought at Sh 1.2 million although he never explained what was meant for in the DG’s office.
“The cost depends on the type of chairs ordered,” he said.
Oduol appeared before the committee probing allegations facing him brought by East Asembo MCA Gordon Onguru.
The allegations include gross violation of the constitution, gross misconduct and abuse of office.
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