By ALLY JAMAH                                      

The Sh5 billion National Social Security Fund (NSSF) scandal involving the controversial Tassia plots took a new twist after a board member accused management of mischief.

Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) Executive Director Jacqueline Mugo, who sits on the NSSF Board, told the Public Investment Committee of Parliament that NSSF management led by acting Management Trustee Richard Lang’at had deliberately kept the board in the dark about the Tassia controversy.

She told MPs of the oversight committee that the Sh5 billion tender awarded to a Chinese company to construct access roads and other infrastructure in Tassia was done without the knowledge of the board.

She said that without the board’s knowledge and approval, Lang’at’s team invited bids for the tender in October last year.

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She also said the bids were processed and the tender awarded on December 19 last year to a Chinese company that has won many of NSSF’s mega-projects.

“We had our last board meeting on December 9, last year. I wonder why Lang’at did not include this matter on the agenda. The tender was awarded on  December 19, with no word to the board. This was mischief,” she said.

The FKE boss said that since July 2011, the board had never discussed the Tassia issue.

“Indeed, the purported e-mail approval by Lang’at requested on December 18 last year was an afterthought. It also did not disclose material facts that the procurement had already been initiated and was at such an advanced stage,” she said.

Mugo also accused the fund management of hiding from the board the fact that the comprehensive infrastructure development project designs for Tassia had finally been approved by the Nairobi County Government in July last year.

Mugo said Lang’at failed to disclose details of the revised project costs from Sh3.3 billion (in July 2011) to Sh5 billion (in December 2013) in his e-mail to her requesting approval, terming the move irregular.

She further accused Labour Cabinet Secretary Kazungu Kambi of excessive interference in the board’s operations.