Paul Kitonga, Wife Stella Mwangangi, Ministry of water officials face arrest over sh342 million Mwache Dam tender scam
The EACC and DCI have been called upon to arrest several culprits who were involved in the shs 342 million Mwache Dam tender scam.
The World Bank has also been called upon to cancel the project.
Top officials at the Ministry of water are embroiled in the shs 342 million Mwache Dam tender scandal.
Led by Frontman Director Paul Kitonga Daudi and his wife Stella Mary Mwanagangi, the ministry officials are reported to have conned several businessmen who participated in the consultancy tender.
On 20th July, some businessmen wrote to the EACC to investigate the fraudulent issuance of the consultancy services for implementation of Mwache dam resettlement action plan (rap).
The tender included resettlement of the vulnerable and marginalized group plan (vmgp) and was contract no. mows/kwscrp-2/002/2018-2019.
The businessmen said there was forgery of testimonial documents during the issuance of the tender.
“The above tender was advertised by the Ministry of Water and Sanitation in the Daily Nation Newspaper in October 2018. The tender was awarded by the Ministry to Frontman Consultants Limited in October 2019 at a price of KES 342,846,574.00 (Kenya Shillings Three Hundred and Forty-Two Million Eight Hundred Forty-Six Thousands and Five Hundred Seventy-Four),” the businessmen told EACC.
They said Frontman, used forged documents on its past experience with government and private entities in consultancy field to tender for the job.
The particular forged documents were from National Irrigation Authority (NIA) and TANATHI Water Works Development Agency.
Other anomalies are likely to have been in the bidding documents, tendering process and the awarding of the contract-the businessmen said.
“I appeal to the EACC to summon Mr Simon Mwangi, the project Manager who is based at the Ministry and Mr Paul Kitonga Daudi the Director of Frontman Consultancy Limited because they colluded to have Frontman Consultancy awarded the tender” the letter reads.
The businessmen asked the EACC to have the ministry of Water stopped from effecting any payments to Frontman Consultants.
They said the public is losing funds after the tender was awarded fraudulently.
They added that Frontman Directors who are listed as Paul Kitonga Daudi and Stella Mary Mwangangi colluded with Engineer Simon Mwangi from the Ministry to defraud them of their money which was used in the consultancy project.
“Irene Muchoki a Communication Specialist-KWSCRP-2, Mwache Dam Project and Catherine Kinuthia a Procurement Specialist, Kenya water Security and Climate Resilience Project colluded with Frontman Directors to shortchange us. They participated in letting the forged testimonials pass,” they said.
In April, the government announced that the construction of the Mwache dam in Kwale had started after the completion of rehabilitation works and the compensation of residents.
The project is funded by the World Bank The dam will be 87.5 meters tall, targeted to impound 118 million cubic meters of water.
It will harness water from the overflowing Mwache river and strengthen daily supply of 186, 000 cubic meters of water to Kwale, Mombasa and Kilifi.
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