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{
"id": 1484194,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1484194/?format=api",
"text_counter": 135,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Andrew Mulwa",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "come as part of the tender document. Usually, bid bonds are annexed to the tender document and, therefore, this bid bond came as an ordinary mail. Further, if you look on top of that page, it is written PD, which is Procurement Department, FY&F for your next necessary action. I can confirm the signature for the CEO who was there before me on the 23rd February while the tender was opening. In other words, this bid bond already had issues even before the tender closed and opened. Therefore, the bid bond was submitted outside the tender document, which is already an irregularity in procurement. After the cancellation of this tender, this issue brought an outcry. As a result, a Principal Secretary, the CEO and officials from the Ministry of Health and KEMSA were suspended. The PS was actually dismissed. An investigation into the procurement anomalies was instituted by the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA), the Ethics and Anticorruption Commission (EACC), both Houses of Parliament; that is, the National Assembly and the Senate. One company wrote to us, I think around 12th June or thereabout, asking for return of the bid bond. This company was Shobikaa Impex Limited. We did not have the document because EACC and other investigating agencies had taken the original documents. Therefore, we wrote back and informed them of the state. When July came, investigations were happening, officers were recording statements and that is when I got a call from the Deputy President asking me to surrender the bid bond to Dr. Ikinu Rigathi. On the same day, I called the EACC and informed them. Mr. Speaker, Sir, for the record, I had never received a call from anyone above my Cabinet Secretary. This was the first time I received a call from a sitting Deputy President requesting for documents that were under investigations. In my 15 years of public service, I had never been asked to do so. Therefore, I felt coerced. I had to leave the business I had for the day, go to the EACC, follow up the bid bond, so that I could retrieve it. Earlier I had written a letter to them and followed it up. I sat there for five hours and waiting for them to discharge the bid bond. On the same date, I wrote a letter and called for them to collect the bid bond. Mr. Speaker, Sir, that explains the conversation and the pressure that I felt as an officer serving in public service. I have explained that the company that had been awarded this tender through the technical evaluation was Shobikaa Impex Limited, whose local sole agent is Crystal Limited. Through the question asked by Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, I have walked the Senate through the conversation on what transpired and how I was able to get the bid bond. Yes, beyond the financial loss, we were supposed to buy 14 million nets under KEMSA procurement. As a result of purchasing these nets through the Global Fund Wambo.Org system, we could only purchase 10.2 million nets. The Global Fund could only supply 10.2 million nets. That means Kenyans lost three million or so nets as a result. Secondly, there was a delay. We were supposed to implement the distribution of nets to the public from September, 2023. That was not possible as a result of the delays. We were only able to start distribution of the nets from January this year. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}