{"id":693949,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/693949/?format=json","text_counter":80,"type":"other","speaker_name":"","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"they will be awarded under separate tender items. There is evidence that indeed, those tenders were ‘awarded separately. There was no splitting of tenders. Secondly, it is an allegation which squarely falls within the procurement unit which the county governor is not fully responsible for. The documentary evidence in support of that allegation is contained in Volume IV in the big bundle. The evidence is in support of our defense that the procurement was done properly. There was no splitting of tenders whatsoever. It is contained in Volume IV from page 288. You can see correspondence on the issue. I will invite this Senate to ask the procurement person if there was serious splitting of tenders as alleged or not? You can see here. Volume IV is the Governor’s bundle on page 288. That should bring this matter to rest that there was no splitting of tenders. Any allegation of splitting of tenders is based on a misconception of this particular document. If this document shows splitting of tenders, go ahead and confirm the charge. But it does not. This document does not show the splitting of tenders. At page 288, Volume IV of the Governor’s bundle, it says; the tenders in question were for electrical installation, plumbing and drainage, air conditioning, structured cabling, radio communication, telecommunication, boilers, inflators and vessels. There is no splitting of tenders there. There are separate tender items which had to be procured separately. So, that allegation collapses with this evidence alone. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I will go back to the Governor’s bundle Volume II. With your permission, I will proceed. The lack of prudence in use of public funds contrary to Section 201 (d) of the Kenya Constitution and Section 104 (10 (i) of the Public Finance Management Act, 2012. It is page 15 of our main response. We will keep on referring to that document. We are happy that this House has an engineer who understands how, contracting is done. When you award a tender, you do not award tenders based on the engineer’s estimates. The engineer’s estimates only provide a guideline. When you pay, you pay for the work actually done. For instance, the allegation here is that the County Government of Nyeri paid Kshs48,744,467.55. That is the allegation. Unfortunately Mr. Speaker, Sir, we brought the actual payment vouchers which were contained in the other bundle which you have excluded which shows that the actual payment which was made by the County Government of Nyeri is Kshs41 million and is based on work that was done on this road in accordance with the contract which was executed between the parties. We have evidence of the actual payment voucher. So, on what basis are they going to say we paid Kshs48 million yet we paid Kshs41 million based on the work that was done and the payment voucher is here only that I cannot produce it for evidence? Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Bills of Quantities are here, the excavation work was done and sometimes soil was removed and sometimes deeply. So, what we are saying is that all these details of what work the county government did in relation to this project was done prudently and in accordance with the framework governing contract management. So, any allegation that we did not follow procedures is completely baseless. Any allegation that money was lost is completely baseless; specifically, the allegation that Kshs48 million was paid contrary to the contract is a lost allegation. The actual amount which we paid as I repeat for the record is Kshs41 million. As I said, we have payment vouchers to prove that expenditure which can be submitted to this Senate on request so that we do not find that a charge is substantiated yet there is evidence which leads to the contrary. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."}