By JOSEPH MUCHIRI

EMBU COUNTY: A senior official of Embu County could be ejected for office over alleged corruption in procurement of four graders.

The County Assembly Infrastructure Committee accused executive member in charge of Infrastructure David Gitonga of delaying purchase of the graders to allegedly cut deals on the side.

Committee Chairman Silas Nyaki said Gitonga gave contradicting information when queried on the delay in procurement of the four graders.

In a report to the House, Nyaki attributed the delay in procurement of the graders to corruption and unnecessary red tape.

He said they had sought the intervention of acting governor Dorothy Nditi to jump-start the tendering process.

“The process started in July 2013 and by December 23, CMC wrote a notification accepting the tender for the supply of the graders, but nothing has been done,” he said.

The assembly launched a probe into the purchase of the machines after Kiambere MCA Martin Mwangi sought know why the graders had not been bought even after the House had approved Sh100million for their procurement.

Mwangi decried the sorry states of the roads in the area, saying the graders were meant to improve the road network in the counties.

He alleged that the tender for the purchase of the machines had been single-sourced contrary to procurement laws.

Nyaki said the tender for the procurement of the four graders was issued under restricted tendering, which is only allowed in emergency cases.

“Restricted tendering is against the Public Procurement and Disposal Act and is done only in case of emergencies. From July to December which emergency was there?” he posed.

COST-EFFECTIVE

The committee also noted the county government inherited four graders from the defunct local authorities and only Sh2 million was required for repair of the of them that had been grounded.

They said repairing of the old graders was more cost effective than buying new ones.

Contributing to the debate on the report, Deputy Speaker Ibrahim Swaleh said he would introduce a substantive motion to eject Gitonga from office if the graders will not have been delivered by next month.

Swaleh said Gitonga could also not explain how the Sh4 million awarded for the construction of Kutus-Embu roadside pavements in preparation of the Investor’s Conference last year was spent.

The committee said the bills of quantities for the pavements were done without the designs as is usually the practice.