The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has recommended that top procurement officers at Vihiga County be charged with conspiracy to commit an offence of economic crime in its second quarterly report covering the period between April 2023 and June 30, 2023.
According to the EACC report dated 2nd August 2023 signed by David Oginde (Chairperson) and Twalib Mbarak (Secretary/Chief Executive Officer), they say they had investigated procurement irregularities and the loss of public funds through the payment of non-existing works in the construction of a blood transfusion centre by the county government of Vihiga.
The commission had received information that the county government of Vihiga had advertised and irregularly awarded a tender for the construction of a blood transfusion centre, vide tender No. VCG/HLT/702190/2018/2019 that resulted in a loss of public funds.
Investigations revealed that the said tender was worth Ksh.17 million, while the appropriation amount in the approved budget was only Ksh. 9 million, a total of five bids were opened by the tender committee. Investigations by EACC further revealed that the Director of Eddiettrium Consultants Services Ltd prepared two bid documents, while the other three bids were prepared by the Principal Quality Surveyor, Transport and Infrastructure Department of Vihiga County Government.
It was, however, discovered that none of the five bids met the evaluation criteria set in the bid document. A report was prepared and forwarded to the Director of Public Procurement on May 3rd 2023, recommending that the suspects be charged with conspiracy to commit an offence of economic crime, willful failure to comply with the law relating to procurement and fraudulent acquisition of public property, and uttering a false document. The EACC is now only waiting for the DPP’s response on whether to prosecute, dismiss, or carry out further investigations on the same.
