Kaluworks collapse starves prisons of feeding pans

Kenya’s correctional services department is feeling the heat after the collapse of Kaluworks Limited, a manufacturing firm under tycoon Manu Chandaria’s Comcraft Group.

This is after it emerged the collapsed utensils maker was the only local entity that could mass-produce the kind of feeding pans used in prisons.

For the better part of 2021, the Interior ministry has been unable to procure 16,646 feeding pans that were urgently needed in prisons.

This emerged courtesy of a legal standoff between the Interior ministry and a company that was hired to supply the equipment.

Bevaj Furniture Limited has sued the Interior ministry seeking to stop cancellation of its supply tender, arguing that Kaluworks’ collapse forced it to import the feeding pans from India.

The Interior ministry awarded Bevaj the Sh32.4 million contract in February, as it sought feedings pans that are at least 60 percent aluminium.

Documents filed in court indicate Bevaj Furniture paid Kaluworks a Sh5 million deposit on April 19, 2021 and production of feeding pans in line with samples approved by the Interior ministry started.

But Kaluworks collapsed on May 27, 2021, when the Kenyatta family-owned NCBA Bank placed it under receivership over failure to repay a Sh4.3 billion debt.

Bevaj Furniture visited the Kaluworks’ Limuru road factory on June 2021 and confirmed that the feeding pans were nearly ready, as they were only awaiting polishing before being released.

A few days later, Kaluworks stopped all its operations, affecting products that were nearing completion such as the Bevaj Furniture consignment.

No manufacturing has been done since the receivership started, which placed Bevaj and Kenya’s correctional services department in a bind.

Bevaj informed the Interior ministry of the hitch, as it reached out to India’s A.P. Enterprise for manufacturing of the pans.

The Indian manufacturer, however, said it would deliver the feeding pans at the end of November.

Bevaj says in court papers that it has consistently updated the Interior ministry on the manufacturing process, and was surprised to learn in September that its contract had been terminated with the tender being advertised afresh.

The firm insists it has never received any complaints from the Interior ministry or the Kenya Prisons Service, which is the procuring entity, hence the decision to terminate the contract abruptly is unfair.

“A.P. Enterprise of India is now producing the said goods and has assured Bevaj Furniture that it can deliver the same by end of November, 2021. Bevaj Furniture has already incurred over Sh5 million paid to Kaluworks Limited, which it stands to lose and has committed over $40,000 (Sh4.4 million) to the second supplier, A.P. Enterprise of India, which it stands to lose with the illegal and unlawful termination of its contract,” Bevaj Furniture director Rosaline Mbugi says in court papers.

Neither Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho nor Attorney-General Kihara Kariuki has responded to the case.

Bevaj Furniture says after receiving the letter terminating its contract, it wrote to Mr Kibicho seeking clarification on the move and the fresh procurement, but is yet to get a response.

The firm adds that it has written to the Commissioner General of Prisons clarifying that the feeding pans will be delivered by the end of November.

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