The food starvation crisis is looming within the Kenyan prisons and remand centers after the High Court stopped a multi-billion tender.
The court’s order comes after a petition by a Kiambu-based civil society claimed, the tendering was a scheme by top officials in the Prison Department under the Ministry of Interior and National Co-ordination, to steal public resources.
In a ruling delivered by Lady Justice Pauline Nyamweya last Friday, gave an order stopping the decision by the Principal Secretary, State Department of Correctional Services, to advertise in the newspapers inviting bids for tenders for the year 2019-2020, with the current tender already in place for the same duration.
In the meantime, the correctional department is also reeling from the controversy over an Sh6 billion debt owed to suppliers.
Suppliers of essential goods to the prisoners have accused the PS of delaying their payment even after the president had given a directive for the money to be released.
Overpriced Good
One Daniel Ng’ang‘a Wanyoike has also accused the PS of giving out skewed tenders and over-pricing goods which is unlawful.
” The bias is quite clear as the respondent awarded specific favorite companies many awards in many counties with some receiving tender awards in up to 14 counties for one company thereby infringing to fair administrative action in a compilation of some of the published and undated list of awards companies,” Mr. Wanyoike said in his affidavit in court as reported by KNA.
According to the petitioner, back in June 2019, the PS advertised a tender notice on daily newspapers for supply and delivery of dry foodstuff, meat products, and wood fuel among other staff for the year 2019 -2020.
“The tender awards were put in a design which will lead to loss of public funds; the prices were seriously inflated… A bag of 90Kg millet flour is to be supplied at sh 1000 per kg, therefore, a company will after supply and delivery, claim Sh90000 for a bag a 900% overpricing considering the same cost in the retail market around sh70 to 90 per kilo bag going between Sh7000 and 8000 retail prices,” Wanyoike told the court.
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Sources said, the Commissioner-General of Prisons, Wycliffe Ogalo was pay passed in the tender awards with some tenders being handled at the county level as opposed to the ministry’s headquarters.
In another scenario, another tender was divided and a company that made a bid to supply pharmaceuticals was only awarded a tender to supply Aspirin tablet for Sh15 per tablet which is normally sold at Sh1.
Wanyoike also told the High Court that the PS also failed to honor the dates of the controversial tender and only took advantage of Covid-19 lockdown to publish an undated list of successful bidders on their website and indicated that the bidders who never found their names in the list to consider themselves unsuccessful.
The petitioner also claimed that despite the unsuccessful bidders having an arguable case and acknowledge that the only available channel for appeal was blocked by the PS.
“This is a pointer that the respondent never conducted a market survey or if it was done, the respondent could have sidestepped its findings, or it is outright stealing of public funds through overpricing. In a nutshell, the formative stage of a mega scandal and his honorable court should help and avert this mega scandal by allowing my pages,” said the Wanyoike in his affidavit.
So far payment to the suppliers has been put on hold since 2018 with claims that the bills had not been verified.
