Staff in the Office of the Deputy President attempted to cover up fraud in the hire of an executive jet, a parliamentary committee has reported.
After 11 months of investigations, the Public Accounts Committee says in its report it has failed to unlock the mystery of the missing documents used to procure the jet, prompting it to conclude that Deputy President William Ruto’s staff executed a cover-up.
Mr Ruto used the aircraft to visit several African countries to mobilise support against the International Criminal Court cases facing him and President Kenyatta. He had 13 members in his delegation.
In the report to be tabled in Parliament next week the committee, which questioned 10 government officials, holds the view that procurement procedures were breached. The report says an incomplete Local Service Order (LSO) was irregularly used to initiate payment. Four LSOs went missing in what the committee says are suspicious circumstances.
The report commended the Daily Nation for bravely and gallantly blowing the whistle onthe missing documents, among other issues, saying this helped expose the matter.
The jet was hired for trips to Gabon, Ghana, Congo Brazzaville and Nigeria between May 16-9. Of concern is how the trip, which cost Sh21.2 million, was hurriedly planned, resulting in gross breaches of procedures and regulations.
The aircraft was hired at a cost of Sh18.6 million and a further Sh2.6 million was spent on accommodation. The total cost, however, does not include the daily allowances paid to two Members of Parliament and two Senators in the delegation.
The draft report by the committee mentions a deliberate attempt to cover up fraud in the procurement procedure.
“The failure by the Office of the Deputy President to institute investigations into this grave matter and the subsequent hurried transfer of two officers directly involved in the aircraft hire all point to attempted fraud and a deliberate attempt at a cover-up,” the committee states in its findings.
Chief of Staff in the Office of the Deputy President, Ms Marianne Kitany, was accused for negligence and inaction, with the committee concluding that she failed or refused to institute investigations into the case of the missing documents or to take any steps to hold those suspected of criminal acts accountable.
“Instead, she hurriedly got them transfers to other ministries in the midst of the audit,” it says.
Also found culpable of breaches of procurement regulations and related malpractices are secretary of administration Abdul Mwasera, senior assistant director of supply chain management Evans Nyachio, supply chain management officer Simon Okoth, senior finance officer Paul Kamau and Mr Ahmed Kassam, the director of EADC Ltd, who supplied the plane.
The report recommends that the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission investigate these people.
Further anomalies are highlighted in the report with regard to what the supplier, EADC, had initially quoted. The supplier whose quote was for the supply of a Global Express 6,000 aircraft, delivered a Challenger 850 instead, a variation the committee sees as not only irregular but illegal.
Ruto’s office is also faulted over funding costs, with the team noting that it did not have sufficient funds for the expenditure at the time of beginning the procurement.
The report notes a breach of government financial regulations in that no contract was signed between the Office of the Deputy President and the supplier of the aircraft.
The matter was first raised on the floor of the National Assembly by Ugenya MP David Ouma in May last year.
www.doitadigital.com