E-Clips:- Business Pictorial - VP To Give Statement

Vice-President Moody Awori is today expected to issue a Government statement on the controversial Sh2.7 billion tender for passport issuing equipment. Mr Awori will read a ministerial statement in Parliament in response to questions raised about the deal and explain whether the proper procedures were followed in awarding the contract.

He is expected to explain why the Government expanded a passports project from one costing slightly more than Sh800 million to one costing Sh2.7 billion and then awarded it to a company with a British address without even putting it to tender.

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 bigger project to a British firm for Sh2.7 billion without competitive bidding. The issue first came up in Parliament last week amid accusations of corruption and impropriety against the Narc Government.

Ntonyiri MP Maoka Maore kicked off the furore when he questioned why the Government committed itself to "overpay" a tender for immigration security and documents by about Sh1.7 billion.

Mr Maore claimed the deal involved suppliers who had been blacklisted by the Comptroller and Auditor-General for selling to the police force the much-ridiculed Mahindra vehicles.

A three-page document tabled by the MP showed that the Immigration Department was to be supplied with software, laminating machines and a new generation of Kenyan passports in order to protect immigrations information bank and make the countrys passports difficult to forge.

The Awori statement will be presented even as investigations ordered by the permanent secretary for Ethics and Governance, Mr John Githongo, are being carried out by the Kenya Anti-corruption Commission.

The Nation was unable to reach Mr Githongo yesterday as he was said to have travelled overseas, but at the weekend he was asked by a reporter whether the passports contract was a security procurement and whether it qualified for exemption from normal tender rules. He said: "It is clear Immigration, who were the users, were not treating it as a security procurement. The procedure for this is totally different. We are still investigating and an appropriate decision will be taken when the report is complete."

Mr Githongo, however, said that national security purchases – which are normally not open to scrutiny – had been used as cover for serious corruption in countries undergoing transition.

He said such spending had devastating impact on economies because poor countries ended up paying for the "wrong kind of equipment at the wrong time." "In Kenya these security arguments gave us the Mahindras and have lumbered us with billions worth of unsuitable equipment in government departments. National security is the last refuge of the corrupt," he added.

Questions have been raised as to why the Treasury, on receiving the Principal Immigration Officers procurement request, cancelled the three firms selected to bid for the original contract for laminating, scanning and passport processing machines and then awarded the contract to Anglo Leasing and Finance company.

Against the original wishes of the Immigration department, the Treasury citing "terrorism" and other concerns, expanded the project to one costing Sh2.7 billion.

Immigration had asked in vain to continue with its original smaller project because it was "affordable and manageable" and due to the urgency to replace its equipment, even as the Government developed the larger one. When he first raised the issue last Wednesday, Mr Maore accused the Government of dwelling on alleged corruption of the Moi era tenure while ignoring graft perpetrated under the Mwai Kibaki government.

According to the documents, a UK based firm, Anglo Leasing & Finance Limited of Alpha House, Liverpool, was awarded the tender to supply computer hardware and software, 300,000 passport documents and lamination films for passports.

Yesterday, Mr Awori confirmed that he would issue a statement today. "Yes. I will issue the statement today on the government position regarding the matter," Mr Awori said after receiving a donation of three computers for the Langata Women Prison.

As he spoke, the chairman of the House National Security Committee, Mr David Mwenje, said summons had gone out to two permanent secretaries and the Principal Immigration Officer to appear before the team on Thursday.

Mr Mwenje said the civil servants were expected to appear before his committee today, but the clerk office delayed the summons. "The summons for the three were issued today (yesterday) so it is not possible for them to appear before the committee," Mr Mwenje told the Nation yesterday. He said the Vice-President might be requested to appear before the committee depending on the information he gives the House.

Last week the Nation found that Anglo Leasing and Finance was not listed at the address in Liverpool, UK, indicated in its contract documents and was not registered in the United Kingdom.

A Nation correspondent found that a different firm, Saagar Associates, occupies the office at Alpha House in Liverpool, which is on 100 Upper Parliament Street. But later Anglo Leasing put out a statement saying it was a Swiss company specialising in project financing and had been trading for several years.

The company maintained that it had a representative office in Liverpool at Alpha House, 100 Upper Parliament Street, dealing with English speaking countries.

"The company always complies with any legal and contractual requirements in respect of its business," the statement said.

An analysis of the passports deal documents puts the spotlight on the Ministry of Finance which pushed the deal in violation of procurement regulations. The Directorate of Public Procurement – which is within the Treasury – is the ultimate authority on purchases by public institutions.

Correspondence show that the idea of a grand "supply of immigration security and documents control project" was first mentioned in a letter by the director of the Government Information Technology, Mr Wilson Sitonik, in which he virtually imposed the project on the Office of the Vice President and Home Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.