The Chief Executive officer of Kenya Cultural Centre Mr Michael Pundo is a man under siege, according to sources from the DCI and EACC who spoke to The Weekly Vision in confidence. The source says that under his leadership, many financial malpractices had occurred at the institution.
The source reveals that he irregularly approved sitting allowance contrary to Section 10 of the State Corporations Act which provides that sitting allowances are payable to the Chairman and members of the Board, other than the Chief Executive. However, during the year under review, some staff members were paid sitting allowances amounting to Ksh.268,000 while attending Governing Council meetings. In the circumstances, the regularity of the payments could not be confirmed.
Still, under his leadership, record keeping at the corporation is poor as vital tender documents could not be traced. This is in contravention of e-Procurement Executive Order No.2 of 2018 – procurement of public goods, works and services by public entities.
The order directed all public procuring entities to maintain and continuously update and publicize complete information on all tenders awarded. However, no evidence was provided that the Centre had complied with the directives. In the circumstances, accountability and transparency in the procurement of goods and services at the Centre could not be confirmed.
The report further reveals that the Centre incurred Ksh. 353,600 and Ksh.377,920 on partitioning works of technicians’ office and human resource office respectively, and Ksh. 518,125 on supply of office furniture all totalling Ksh.1,249,645.
However, the procurements were not awarded to the lowest bidders as required under Section 106(3) of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015. In the circumstances, it was not possible to confirm whether the Centre got value for money from the payments.
