MPs want six former airport bosses probed over Sh11 million buses deal

A parliamentary committee that investigated the controversial Sh11 million-a-month contract for five buses at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport wants six former Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) bosses investigated over procurement malpractice.

Parliament’s committee on Transport and Public Works tabled a report in the House which recommends that the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission investigates former KAA boss Lucy Mbugua and former managers John Thumbi, Martin Kamau, Christopher Warutere, Lillian Okidi and the acting Finance Manager Patrick Chonde.

Chonde is listed because the MPs say he abdicated his role in the procurement process by delegating authority to a junior officer, Mr Martin Kamau.

“KAA procured the Apron bus services from M/s Relief and Mission Logistics Ltd without the existence of an adequate budget in contravention of the Public Procurement and Disposal Regulations of 2006, specifically regulation 10(2d), which state there should be no commencement of any procurement process without the provision of funds,” said the MPs in their report tabled on Thursday.

The House team has also asked KAA to quickly take the Sh210 million that the World Bank gave the authority in August 2013 after a section of JKIA caught fire and spend it to buy seven buses. The MPs said KAA will then have to “concession a third party to operate and maintain the buses” as per the law.

“The authority ignored the option for KAA to purchase the Apron buses and concession a third party to operate and maintain them despite the recommendation by the committee tasked to come up with mode of provision of the bus services,” the committee noted.

In coming up with their verdict, the MPs relied on the evidence of the Transport PS, Mr Joseph Mosonik, who said that the internal investigations in the procurement of the buses had “revealed serious issues that require criminal investigation”.

“The entire process of procurement, evaluation and operation of the Apron buses has many unanswered questions and more so whether Kenyans were getting value for their money in the project,” the report quotes Mosonik’s testimony.

The KAA board of directors interdicted the officers and even invited the EACC to investigate the tender after President Uhuru Kenyatta raised queries on the colossal amount paid for the buses.

“There was no business case in acquiring the Apron buses and the entire project was fraught with irregularities from the start. There was no value for the money to spend Sh11 million per month for the buses,” the KAA board of directors led by former Inspector General David Kimaiyo told the MPs.

The buses were grounded. Currently, Kenya Airways is operating 11 Apron buses of which nine were bought from China while two are from Germany.