MPs want Kebs boss to pay for faulty inspection tender

KEBs MD Bernard Njiraini. [File, Standard]

Parliament has adopted a committee report that seeks to have Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) Managing Director Bernard Njiraini held responsible for litigation that may arise from a controversial tender. 

The Public Investments Committee (PIC) recommended punishment for Mr Njiraini and the procurement team at Kebs for alleged impropriety in awarding a pre-export verification tender.

On Tuesday, the National Assembly adopted the report that recommended that the top officer at the state agency be surcharged in the event bidders challenged the award.

Kebs was stopped from expanding a vehicle inspections tender following queries around the process.

The watchdog committee chaired by Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir also recommended that the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission probe the circumstances under which Kebs engaged blacklisted firms, EAA Company Ltd and Auto Terminal Japan.

The Auditor-General had in a special audit recommended that the two firms be barred from engaging in such tenders.

But the agency went ahead to engage them in its bid to have more firms inspect vehicles being imported into the country.

“The Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury should expeditiously develop and gazette debarment regulations within 60 days of the adoption of this report,” reads the report.

“Njiraini should be held responsible for ignoring the PIC’s advisory to seek and follow the AG’s legal opinion before awarding the tender.”

Quality Inspection Services Japan was the sole contractor for the nearly Sh1.5 billion annual tender, which expires in April 2021.