This archive report was first published on 24 June 2020.
Procurement Chief Faces Questions Over Tenders in Waiguru Impeachment ¶
June 24, 2020
Joseph Otieno, the Director of Supply Chain Management in Kirinyaga County, was tasked with explaining how questionable tenders were awarded to various companies, a key issue in the impeachment of Governor Anne Waiguru.
During a hearing before an 11-member Senate Committee, Otieno denied claims that Waiguru appointed her close associates to key committees to secure her interests. He stated that the process of appointing members to the Tender Committee was procedural and that the ward representatives were on a 'fishing expedition.'
Lawyer Ndegwa Njiru, representing the County Assembly, sought to prove allegations that Waiguru used her close associates, Pauline Kamau and Gichira Wayne, as alternate chairpersons in major tender evaluation committees, contrary to the law.
However, Otieno clarified that Wayne and Pauline had never sat in the same evaluation committee, but rather in separate chairpersons to different evaluation committees.
The committee also heard that there were no two companies that were awarded tenders worth millions of shillings, contrary to claims made by the Kirinyaga MCAs. Otieno explained that the existence of the names of the two companies in the contractual papers was a typo.
