- It was also noted that the Department engaged various agencies that were not among the prequalified vendors by the State Department for Public Works. It was further discovered that to conceal their fraudulent activities, the officers used non-official e-mail addresses in official communication especially Gmail for official business communication. The use of non-official e-mail addresses in official communication is contrary to the Public Service Commission circular number SH/ADM/23(1) dated 14 June 2022 on the use of personal email addresses for official Government business
By The Weekly vision
Top government officials at the State Department of Early Learning and Basic Education were allegedly involved in financial losses that have since led to the crippling failure to implement various state policies. It has emerged that the procurement department incurred an expenditure of Kshs.1, 972,672 on the purchase of tyres, investigations however reveal that the cost of the tires within the framework agreement was Kshs.850, 772. It is important to note that the tender committee awarded the tender to a company that quoted higher over the other listed suppliers whose quotes were cheaper.
It was also noted that the Department engaged various agencies that were not among the pre-qualified vendors by the State Department for Public Works. It was further discovered that to conceal their fraudulent activities, the officers used non-official e-mail addresses in official communication especially Gmail for official business communication. The use of non-official e-mail addresses in official communication is contrary to the Public Service Commission circular number SH/ADM/23(1) dated 14 June 2022 on the use of personal email addresses for official Government business.
All Ministries, State Departments and Semi-Autonomous Government Agencies are required to have their staff members boarded onto the Government domain email addresses provided by the ICT Authority. The circular stated that any non-compliant email communication will be considered non-official. In these circumstances, the use of personal emails may compromise the State Department’s data and potentially exposes the entity and the Government in matters of National security and National interests.
To further show how rotten the department is, Local Purchase Orders (LPOs) were issued after invoicing in a number of instances. It was also noted that the Project Management paid Kshs.1, 490,000 through payment voucher No.831. However, the supporting local purchase order revealed that the LPO is dated 7th December 2021 while the Invoice No.3324 is dated 3rd December 2021. Another irregular payment is that of Kshs.618,000 through payment voucher No.321 however, supporting local purchase order revealed that the LPO is dated 14th October 2021 while the Invoice No.2101 is dated 1st October 2021.
Again, the Project Management paid Kshs.1, 233,000 through payment voucher No.834 while the supporting local purchase order revealed that the LPO is dated 7th December 2021 while the Invoice No.3276 is dated 25th November 2021. Another payment of Kshs.303, 000 was done through payment voucher No.830. However, the Local Purchase Order was dated 22nd December 2021 while Invoice No.2245 of the same amount was dated 15th December 2021.
The Project Management also paid Kshs.78, 000 through payment voucher No.847 against a Local Purchase Order 1812838 dated 25th December 2021 while Invoice No. INV190000001577 of the same amount was dated 30th November 2021. In another payment, the Project Management paid Kshs.579, 000 through payment voucher No.849 against Local Purchase Order 1812842 dated 29th December 2021 while Invoice No. INV190000001615 of the same amount was dated 20th December 2021.
Finally, payment of Ksh. 579, 000 was made through payment voucher No.832 against Local Purchase Order 1812837 dated 22nd December 2021 while Invoice No.2229 of the same amount was dated 2nd December 2021.
