E-Clips:- Business Pictorial - Uproar In House As Awori Defends Govt

PROTESTS and acrimony met Vice President Moody Aworis statement in Parliament when he tried to exonerate the Government from fraud accusations on the controversial Sh2.7 billion tender for passport issuing equipment.

Awori said the deal was clean and in line with the Governments policy of transparency and accountability. He said there was no impropriety in the contracts aimed at revamping the Immigration Department which was characterised by inefficiency and loss of revenue.

MPs protested bitterly when Awori said that the tender to offer a more sophisticated passport followed demands by Kenya’s development partners in the wake of international terrorism and prevent easy border crossing.

The Vice President said governments worldwide had advised on improved and new strategies to fight terrorism. He said the issuance of passports must be revamped and serious security checks put in place to prevent them from abuse by fraudsters and forgeries by people involved in criminal activities.

The Vice President said the threats of terrorism following the September 11 attacks in the United States of America and the 1998 bomb blasts in Kenya where lives and property were lost had demanded strict immigration procedures and documentation.

He said Kenya had to abide by the international demands for strict border control systems after countries issued travel advisories against her. However, MPs protested when Awori said he was issuing a personal statement to clear his name from the alleged scandal exposed by Ntonyiri MP Maoka Maore on the tendering for the passport issuing equipment.

Awori said the matter was still under investigation adding that he needed to clear his name from any fraud allegations in the tender. He said the matter was already being handled by the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament to establish whether there was transparency and accountability in the deal.

Nyaribari Chache MP Simeon Nyachae said the matter was serious and should not be wished away through a personal statement. He said the scandal should be referred to the relevant committee of the House for scrutiny.

The lawmakers accused the Vice President of trying to respond to Maore accusations in the guise of a personal statement to avoid being questioned further on the deal. Kanu MPs Bonaya Godana, Abdi Sasura and Nick Salat heavily protested the alleged denial by Awori to clarify on the tendering in which Sh2.7 billion from the taxpayers was to be lost.

MPs Gor Sunguh, Raphael Wanjala, Jimmy Angwenyi and Njoki Ndungu demanded that the Vice President be heard. Wanjala was finally sent out for being disorderly as the matter became intense.

Salat claimed the Government had a “new and improved Pattni in the works in the name of Jimmy”. After Awori finished reading the lengthy statement, Deputy Speaker David Musila who was on the chair said his assessment did not rate it as a personal statement and decided to allow clarification from MPs.

Awori said the new equipment will be earning Sh1.2 billion per year in Visa fees and would therefore repay itself in three years. He gave a lengthy history of the tendering of the machines in which three companies: Phase Technology of South Africa, De La Rue from Britain and GNT placed their tenders.

He however said none of them qualified to do the job as per the specifications outlined. When asked by David Mwenje why the eventual company that won the tender got it through single sourcing, Awori said the matter involved security which could have been compromised by those who lost in the initial tendering.

He said an independent company was preferred to conceal the nature of the security measures the Government was adopting in its immigration documentation. Awori said the Government should be given time to streamline the Immigration Department, the National Youth Service and the Prisons.