Military contractor runs into problems with MPs

The Chief of General Staff, Gen Jeremiah Kianga (left) and Vice Chief of General Staff, Lt-Gen Julius Karangi. Photo/FILE

By ALPHONCE SHIUNDU (ashiundu@ke.nationmedia.com)
Posted  Monday, May 30 2011 at 14:57

Parliament’s Defence and Foreign Relations Committee on Monday kicked out a military contractor from a meeting after it emerged that the contractor had presented false information to the committee.

Committee chairman Adan Keynan and MPs Omondi Anyanga, Charles Kilonzo and George Nyamweya told off the contractor, saying he was not being truthful about the details of his dealings with Kenya’s military.

“What we have before us and what you’re trying to present are completely worlds apart,” said Mr Keynan.

At the morning meeting at County Hall, the MPs questioned why the contractor, N.K. Brothers Construction Company, had in the first place decided to come to the meeting without any documents proving its existence. The contractor did not even have a written submission for the committee’s record and had settled on having its quantity surveyor David Mwaniki engage the committee.

The MPs also took issue with the apparent reluctance of the managing director, Mr Pravin Khoda, to answer questions regarding the competence of the company to handle the works.

Responsible

They asked Mr Mwaniki to remain silent and let “a person with legal authority address the committee, so that we know who to hold responsible”.

It emerged that, for now, the company was working on six projects for the Department of Defence worth Sh4 billion. The company is also in the running for a Sh1.2 billion job at the DoD for construction works at the Kenya Military Academy in Lanet.

It is this new deal that was the subject of investigation because, the MPs said, N.K Brothers was excluded from the tendering process because of doubts about its ability to do the job.

But according to Mr Anyanga, “one senior person at the DoD” saw it fit to reverse the whole tendering process, just to accommodate the company in the bidding process. Documents seen by the Nation attribute this decision to the Chief of General Staff Jeremiah Kianga.

The “curious” thing about the whole cancellation, the committee said, was that military consultants Tectura International had pointed out that N.K Brothers had difficulty in meeting its monthly targets in one of the projects at the Kenya Military Academy.

“From past experience, the contractor handled two projects for the [DoD]…and the two projects were delayed and handed over almost one year late mainly due to strained capacity,” Colonel G.R.A Owinow wrote in a brief for General Kianga, giving reasons why N.K Brothers ought not to be given the Sh1.2 billion job.

Guidance

Colonel Owinow also noted that the procurement laws backed the sourcing of firms with indigenous ownership, and that’s why N.K Brothers had been excluded.

However, two weeks after Colonel Owinow’s briefing, General Kianga ordered the process stopped “to await his guidance”.

Two months later, the General gave his guidance: “The process must enhance inclusiveness, competitiveness and value for money by including (N.K Brothers who were already on the ground working on a Sh500 million job).”

The CGS told Colonel Owinow that it was not his job to exclude contractors.

“The decision to exclude the contractor on the ground is not for staff officers to make but should be left exclusively to the ministerial tender committee,” the General wrote. “Any advice to the ministerial tender committee must be accompanied by full-proof evidence and every cost must be indicated.”

The staff noted that the procurement laws did not obligate them to include the contractor just because he was on site. But that the use of the contractor on the ground is likely to save Sh90 million, being the mobilization quota of the contract sum, normally put at 7.5 per cent of the total sum.

Mr Khoda told the MPs that work on the current project at the military academy will be completed in three weeks - a month before the deadline.

But the MPs demanded a full record of past works, the timeline variations, price variations and if there had been any litigation concerning undone jobs. The committee said this should be presented on Thursday morning.

The hearings continue.