How bidders were duped in Ksh89 million Kilifi tender deal

Gullible bidders may have lost millions of shillings to a web off corrupt senior officials at the Kilifi county government.

The Times has established that senior officials at the procurement office and the Department of Lands, Energy, Housing, Physical Planningand Urban Development are battling extortion allegations in a tender bid that was cancelled mysteriously.

The county had invited bidders for the construction of a Solid Waste Treatment Plant at Casuarina in Malindi sub-county under tender number KCG/MM/UIG/002/2020/2021.

The tenders were advertised in March as authorized by the Head of Supply Chain Management in the county.

One bidder is said to have lodged a complaint with the investigation agencies after being asked to issue sh 6 million shillings as facilitation fee by senior officials at the county.

Plans for the Sh89,965,220 million plant have been in the offing since the year 2016 when the county assembly adopted the Solid WasteManagement Bill 2016.

We have also established that only four bidders participated in the exercise.

They include Tana Delta Construction and Supplies Company, who quoted Sh68,792,920, Abmo Links Limited, who quoted Sh69,530,030, Fatah Construction and Civil Works Limited, who quoted Sh87,900,550 and Libro Africa Limited, who quoted Sh89,965,220.

However, there has been minimal effort from the county to set up a serious waste treatment plant even as the Malindi dumpsite continuesto be a major issue of concern to the residents.

The Times understands that the anti-graft agencies are treating the matter with great concern after receiving numerous complaints from bidders who were promised the lucrative tender deal.

Documents in our possession indicate that Libro Africa Limited were the successful bidders and were given the notification of award letteron 6th May 2021 duly signed by land, energy, housing, physical planning and urban development chief officer Moses Gunda.

But another letter signed by Mr Gunda dated 22nd November 2021 cancelled the letter of award on the grounds that the company issuedfalse information.
This is after the contractor secured a performance bond from Rafiki Microfinance Bank on 27th May 2021.

This, according to the company, was in line with section 55(5) of the Public Procurement and Assets Disposal Act 2015.

Officers from the company claim that they paid over Sh3 million to senior officers at the county as facilitation and processing fee.
Their efforts to get clarification from the county have been futile.

They claim that they have incriminating evidence showing how the officers took Sh3.1 million from one of the suppliers in office and later terminated the contract since they did not meet all their dues.Loading…

It is worth noting that in February this year, the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) directed the County Government of Kilifi to urgently regularize operations at the Malindidumpsite.

The environmental watchdog had written to the county government, giving it a ten-point plan to ensure that there is no further pollution of the environment at and around the dumpsite.

Nema said the dumpsite posed a health hazard to residents and that its continued stay in the area would also affect tourism since a number oftourist establishments were surrounding it.

The county has been synonymous with cases of extortion and this may be one of the many other cases where unsuspecting bidders are duped.

In 2018, police linked the murder of a trader to a cartel who were out to wipe out a Sh9 million debt he had allegedly given to a woman who presented herself to him as a person capable of getting business for him in Kilifi County.

A police officer who investigated the murder of the Nairobi businessman claimed that a woman detained at Shimo la Tewa prison wasthe main suspect and mastermind of the killing.

In a series of messages, county chief officer in charge of Lands, Energy, Housing Physical Planning & Urban Development Moses GundaMunga asked the supplier to quickly comply by finalizing the payment.

“Hi. Did you finalize your part? You do not know that the plug will be pulled in this one. You know that doesn’t solve the issue at hand.Professional opinion is not out as well and that’s what Matano (Ma5) waiting for and predicted that you’ll not comply,” Reads one of the messages

Our efforts to get comments from Gunda were futile as he did not return our calls or respond to our text messages.

However, county head of procurement Matano Riziki Choga said that he cannot comment on anything on phone and he prefers face-to-face talks.
“Come to the office we talk. There are issues I can’t talk about on phone,” he said.

Our investigations have revealed that a lot of mischievous activities were carried out and no proper procurement processes were followed,especially issuance of regret letters to the rest of the bidders.

A series of video and audio clips plus messages on how the said senior county officials were asking for the loot is also secured and available.

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