E-Clips:- Business Pictorial - Passport Deal Clean, House Told

Businessman Jimmy Wanjigi was named yesterday in connection with the controversial Sh2.7 billion passports contract as MPs questioned Vice-President Moody Awori defence of the deal.

Mr Wanjigi was described by opposition MP Nick Salat as "the new (Kamlesh) Pattni in the making" when Mr Awori was reading a statement defending the contract for the supply of passport issuing equipment.

MPs brought up his name even as Mr Awori explained that the contract had been awarded to a French firm called Francis Charles Oberthur Fiduciare (FCOF), while the financing would be arranged by Anglo Leasing and Finance Ltd.

Mr Awori heads the Home Affairs ministry, which is at the centre of the supplies deal cast by its parliamentary critics as riddled with corruption because it was awarded without competitive bidding.

Yesterday, Mr Awori read a seven-page statement in response to questions publicly raised about the tender for the supply of computer software, laminating equipment and a new generation of Kenya passports to make the Immigration Department more efficient and protect passports from forgeries.

Mr Awori said there was "no impropriety" in the project and pleaded with MPs to allow his ministry to "give a new face" to the Immigration Department, currently beset by inefficiency, loss of revenue and archaic equipment. "I would like to emphasise that the Narc Government has stood for performance, transparency and accountability since taking over the reigns of Government," Mr Awori said.

The VP praised the passports project, saying it would eventually earn Kenya Sh1.8 billion from passports and visas. "The Sh2.7 billion is one component alone, which will bring in an extra Sh1.8 billion in a year in visas. The money will be recovered in three years," Mr Awori said in response to Mr Salats question.

He explained that in the long-run, the project would be self-financing due to enhanced revenue collection that would be brought about by introduction of high security visa stickers.

Questions have been raised about the Government decision to award the contract without competitive bidding, laying it open to corruption. Concern also centres on a decision by the Treasury to reject three firms that had qualified in the bids for the original smaller contract for passport issuing equipment, before the Government expanded the project, citing security and the need for a modern immigration network.

The new project - expected to cost more than Sh2.7 billion while the original was estimated at slightly more than Sh800 million - has attracted suspicion because it is a turnkey project and therefore exposed to graft through the payment of "commissions" in its financing. Critics have also asked why the Government breached its own tender rules and awarded it to one firm.

Yesterday Mr Salat, Kanu MP for Bomet, implied one of the projects beneficiaries was a businessman he only named as "Jimmy", while other opposition MPs shouted "Wanjigi". He said "Jimmy somebody" appeared to have "become a new and improved Pattni in the making, who is now traversing the world."

Mr Wanjigi is a nephew of Finance permanent secretary Joseph Magari, the man whose handling of the contract, by virtue of his office, has been the target of criticism.

Explaining why the Government granted the contract without competitive bidding, Mr Awori said the project was a security matter and some of the components could not be exposed without compromising the Immigration system. "This is the practice world over. You have to trust the Narc Government," the Vice-President said amid heckling by opposition MPs.

He said the head of the Government information technology services, Dr Wilson Sitonik, had shown that the current passport system could not withstand the modern criminal risks.

Even so, the passport contract was being investigated by the Public Accounts Committee. "It will go into it very thoroughly together with other investigating channels," he said. The original project for the passports system, whose bids were cancelled by the Treasury, yielded a short list of three companies - all with internationally respected reputations.

But the Treasury ruled out the three firms as unqualified, and then awarded the financing of the bigger project to a Swiss firm and the Sh2.7 billion supply deal to the French company, FCOF.

The issue was raised by Mr Maoka Maore on April 20, amid accusations of corruption and impropriety against the Narc Administration.

Yesterday, Mr Awori said the project arose from the urgent need to modernise the immigration and border control systems in the face of the two terrorism attacks on Kenya in 1998 and 2002, and the September 11, 2002 attack on the United States.

"Some of the glaring weak points that were detected was the passport issuing system, which had been infiltrated by fraudsters and other criminals, who were forging our passports using it for criminal activities, and the weak border control system in place," he said. Some donor countries, he said, had pointed out that Kenya borders "were porous and could be infiltrated by terrorist, making the country a terrorist haven."

The Immigration department had initiated the contract in 2000 and asked for an immigration information management system comprising 10 major components. He said that in October 2001, five firms were invited to tender for only a passport issuing system through restricted tendering "due to the security nature of the passports."

However, only De La Rue Identity Systeme, AIT International PLC and Face Technologies responded. Mr Awori said that eventually, the quotation of more than Sh622 million for the firm that succeed could not be awarded due to lack of funds.

Due to the "prevailing" weaknesses in the immigration system and the need to counter terrorism threat the department felt the need to make a "phased implementation" of the project.

When Mr Awori rose, he said he would give a "personal statement" under which MPs are forbidden to raise questions. But his address turned out to be a ministerial statement - to which MPs can raise questions or clarification.

He was interrupted several times by opposition MPs, who complained that the VP was reading a policy statement under the guise of a personal one. Mr Maore and deputy leader of the Official Opposition Bonaya Godana complained as soon as Mr Awori started speaking. Dr Godana, the North Horr MP (Kanu), said the matter was of great public interest and the VP would have to bring a Government statement.

He accused the VP of reading a Government statement "in the guise of a personal statement so that he is not asked questions." But as soon as he was through with the seven-page statement, deputy Speaker David Musila declared it was a Government statement and gave MPs an opportunity to seek clarifications.