The National Assembly Public Investments Committee on Commercial Affairs and Energy has directed the Kenya Maritime Authority KMA) to submit a copy of the contract for the construction of the Agency’s Headquarters in Mombasa.
The directive by the Committee Chaired by Hon. David Pkosing (Pokot South) followed revelations by the Auditor General that there had been three additional projects issued under the contract, without documentary evidence of approval as required by the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act (2015).
The KMA team led by Acting Director General Mr. John Omingo appeared before the Committee for examination of their audited Accounts for the 2018/2019 and the 2020/2021 Financial Years.
According to the Auditor General, a scrutiny of the Agency’s financial books for the 2020/2021 Financial Year revealed that capital work in progress on the project totaled Kshs.1.8 billion.
Further scrutiny, revealed that there had been the introduction of three new activities totaling Ksh. 5.5 Billion, which had not been factored in the contracted Bill of Quantities.
Hon. Pkosing directed that the Agency present copies of the primary and all sub-contracts relating to the project within seven days. He asked the Agency to take the work of the Committee seriously, “You must take what we are doing here very seriously. The custodians of whatever report we will write after this, are the investigative agencies and even the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions who can institute further action.”
Other Auditor General queries of concern to the Committee include the Agency’s failure to submit annual reports of import, export, and fees collected during the years under review, contrary to the Kenya Maritime Authority Act, 2006, which requires Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to submit to Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA) monthly and annual reports on the same.
