Hotel at the centre of GDC tenders defends award of Sh 400 million food contract

NAIROBI, KENYA: The management of Nairobi and Garissa based Nomad Palace hotels has protested against what it termed as a smear campaign on their business after media reports indicated it was awarded lucrative contracts by the Geothermal Development Corporation (GDC) unfairly.
The General Manager Mr Yusuf Mohammed protested that the business owned by the family associated with National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale won an open tender fairly and conducted its business to the letter as specified in the contract.
"We are a four star hotel with both local and international clients with a reputation that has been painstakingly built for over 20 years now and yet the brand name is being maligned through malicious propaganda," said Mohammed..
He said media reports had made it appear as if they were illegally awarded the GDC tender to provide catering services at the Menengai drilling section, saying that the open tender was won by Nomad Palace and duly signed by the directors.
The name of the hotel featured after it was alleged that Sh400 million contracts were awarded to companies associated with Duale by former GDC MD Silas Simiyu, who is now being investigated by the Ethics and Anti- Corruption Commission (EACC).
Mohammed however charged that the claims were malicious because the hotels had been awarded many tenders by both public and private entities in the past and yet no such claims had been made against them in the past.
Reached for comment, Duale, said his only relationship with the business was that he is a family member and therefore one among the owners in a large family.