Revelations made by former Nairobi Governor Ann Kananu that State Officers are the ones in control of City Hall and not Governor Johnson Sakaja, have put her on the radar of detectives and other investigative agencies, The Weekly Vision can reveal.
The former governor revealed how several malpractices happened, especially in the procurement of goods and services during her tenure as Chief Officer, Disaster Management.
She revealed how she became a captive of the state, adding that she used to receive calls from all over directing her to undertake certain payments of fictitious claims, that the same is happening to Governor Johnson Sakaja. She also claimed that she operated under threats of impeachment from MCAs, following the revelations, detectives have now camped at City Hall perusing document after document trying to determine whether procurement rules were ignored during her tenure as Chief Officer for Disaster management.
The department incurred operating expenses on emergency relief and refugee assistance amounting to Ksh. 2,268,832,045 and Ksh. 157,830,690 respectively. A review of expenditure records maintained by the department charged to the two components reveals that they procured foodstuffs worth Ksh. 275,045,034 for Disaster and Emergency Department from a local company.
Records to support the distribution of the foodstuff are missing and have never been found by detectives. Similarly, a review of the payment and store records revealed that they incurred expenditures totalling Ksh. 37,669,760 in respect of emergency COVID response, however, supporting documents such as distribution list, acknowledgement of receipt, reports and approvals have not been found. Further, a review of the particulars of the items and the nature of the transactions reveals that these items although classified as emergencies, did not qualify to be categorized as such.
The department also procured fifteen thousand, nine hundred (15,900) (high density) mattresses at a cost of Ksh. 135,669,000 from a local merchant for disaster management. Records indicating how, why and where the mattresses were distributed are not available, which means that the county may have paid for goods which were not received, resulting in a loss of funds.
There is also a report revealing how the Deputy Director of Public Health sought authority from the Chief Officer of Health Services to procure masks for the County through Memo Ref. CHS/9/5/COVID-19/200/ac of 28 March 2020. The approval was given on 28 March 2020.
However, it was noted that the requisition for the purchase was done on 28 August, after approval to procure had already been done. Further, the Local Purchase Order (LPO) to the bidder was issued on 16th April 2020 before the requisition was done.
