Sonko's government targeted over Sh198million payment and breach of law

Ongoing construction of the new Dandora Stadium in Embakasi North Sub-County. The new Dandora Stadium will have notable features like; artificial turf, seats, a gym centre, modern stalls, floodlights, and CCTVs. [File, Standard]

The public procurement agency wants Nairobi County to investigate for suspected irregular payment of Sh196.8 million in the ongoing construction of Dandora Stadium.

The Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA), in an audit report on the Sh350 million contract, has questioned the tendering process and the standard of the stadium works.

The authority has criticised the county government for paying more than Sh196 million to the contractor despite warnings from technical evaluators regarding the quality of the ongoing works.

The authority undertook a review following complaints regarding tender no NCC/ED/T/193/2017-2018 for proposed construction and completion of stadia within the county.

The PPRA now wants Governor Mike Sonko’s administration probed to determine whether documents pertaining to the contract, including a Cabinet memorandum to state the stadium should be built from steel structures, have been forged.

Concrete structure

“The Dandora contract was for the construction of a concrete structure, however, the contractor supported by the officers at the county put up steel structures,” states the report by PPRA signed by Dr Francis Amayi.

The authority highlighted key areas for investigation, namely, irregularities in awarding of tender, the alteration of contract specifications, payments and forgery of documents.

In the preliminary findings, the authority sought documents from the county in the contract awarded to M/S Scanjet Construction Limited, totalling over Sh1 billion for construction and completion of four stadia namely, Kawangware (Sh250 million), Kihumbuini (Sh250 million), Ziwani (Sh186.6 million) and Dandora Sh350 million.

The contract was for a fixed period of 18 months and was signed on May 2018.

The authority cites an internal memo dated September 12, 2018, from Pauline Kahinga-Waititu, the chief officer for urban renewal, housing and project management, where the contractor is accused of alterations and directed to stick to contract specifications.

However, another internal memo dated September 28, 2018 from Abdimutalib Ibrahim, the chief officer youth and sports, instructed the head of procurement to process a variety of the Dandora contract from the concrete terrace to steel.

Procurement laws

The authority indicts the county for breaking procurement and financial laws by irregularly paying the contractor even after the contract variations.

“The county has gone ahead to irregularly pay the contractor despite the warnings from the technical evaluators of the county. The scrutiny of the voucher number revealed that they did not bear voucher numbers,” the authority stated.

The authority noted that all documents submitted by the county regarding the project were not certified. In a communication dated September 3, addressed to the county finance executive, PPRA sought for more documents and responses.