This archive report was first published on 4 December 2019.
On Wednesday, Water Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui faced intense questioning over the Itare dam scandal, which has been at the center of controversy for months.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) investigating officers grilled the CS over the Ksh. 8.9 billion tender for the dam, which has been stalled since the main contractor, CMC Di Ravenna, filed for bankruptcy last year.
Reports indicate that the dam had already used up Ksh. 11 billion since construction began in April 2017, but now remains an incomplete project.
Earlier in July, CS Chelugui appeared before the Parliamentary Natural Resources Committee and presented three options to move forward with the project: continuing with CMC Di Ravenna once it is cleared to operate again, searching for a new contractor, or sub-contracting another firm to complete the work while maintaining CMC Di Ravenna as the main contractor.
However, the Natural Resources Committee tasked Chelugui to explain why CMC Di Ravenna was not dropped as the contractor, given the array of challenges the dam has faced, including compensation issues, flawed procurement processes, and numerous court cases.
