MPs query collapse of Sh25m wall at Shimo la Tewa prison
The entrance to Shimo La Tewa Prisons in Shanzu, Mombasa.
MPs have demanded answers as to how the government paid a contractor Sh24.9 million to construct a perimeter wall at Shimo la Tewa Maximum Prison in Mombasa, which later collapsed.
Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu has flagged the 225-metre wall and the speed with which the contract was awarded in the accounts of the State Department for Correctional Services for the 2020/21 financial year.
Interestingly, the department’s accounting officer awarded the contract to Trans Border Enterprises Company Limited through restricted tendering, contrary to procurement law.
Appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly, Kenya Prisons Services Commissioner-General Brig (Rtd) John Warioba admitted that the collapse of the wall is a grave matter that should attract the attention of the National Security Council (NSC), which is chaired by the President.
“This is a matter that requires the attention of the NSC,” Brig (Rtd) Warioba, who had accompanied the Correctional Services Principal Secretary Safina Kwekwe, told MPs. PAC chairman Opiyo Wandayi (Ugunja) had sought to know whether the collapse of the wall could jeopardise the security of the country, considering that the facility holds high risk convicted criminals.
The watchdog committee was also baffled by the speed with which the contract was awarded in defiance of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal (PPAD) Act of 2015.
Documents presented by Ms Kwekwe show that a letter of notification of award of the deal was issued to the contractor, who accepted the offer on April 3, 2017. The contract was signed on April 4, 2017, the second day of the notice of award. This is contrary to procurement law.
Section 135 (3) of the Act requires the contract to be signed within the period specified in the notification of award but not before 14 days following the notification. The response provided by Ms Kwekwe shows that construction works commenced on April 21, 2017 and the first certificate for payment worth Sh16.95 million was raised on May 5, 2017 by the State Department for Public Works — the project supervisor — in favour of Trans Border Enterprises Company Limited.
A second payment certificate of Sh4.97 million was issued and paid on July 2, 2017 while a third payment of Sh2.64 million was issued on October 10, 2017 and paid on June 26, 2018.
Although the scheduled contract period was a duration of 16 weeks from May 4, 2017, the actual construction works commenced on April 21, 2017, and stalled on December 23, 2017.
“It was later reported that on July 24, 2018, 95 metres of the wall collapsed in the area between watch towers two and three as a result of which an officer manning the watch tower two at the time sustained injuries,” states the audit report. Documents before the House reveal that, although construction resumed, the contractor abandoned the site when the wall was 60 per cent complete.
The documents further show that the Prisons Department on several occasions raised concerns about the workmanship of the contractor but no action was taken by Correctional Services or Public Works. As a result of poor workmanship and delays, another 130 metres of the second perimeter wall on the southern side collapsed on July 25 last year. This compromised the security of inmates and staff.
A visit by auditors last October confirmed that the collapsed wall was not rebuilt and the contractor was not on site. “Value for money from the expenditure in respect of the stalled project could not be ascertained,” states the audit report.
Although Ms Kwekwe described the rash decision to award the contract as an anomaly and that her department “commits to fully adhere to the laid down procurement laws and regulations in undertaking similar projects and contractual obligations in future”, the committee feels it is an illegality that should be investigated.
She nevertheless told the committee that the hurry to sign the contract was necessitated by the fact that the prison urgently needed the perimeter wall. “The prison holds very high risk prisoners and has only one wall. This is what I gathered from colleagues,” Ms Kwekwe said.
MPs asked her to provide the list of current and former directors of the company. She did not confirm whether it had been prequalified for the job before the tender advertisement as required by the procurement law.
The PS, however, ran into problems after she failed to explain to the committee why it had taken long to reconstruct the wall.
“You’ve told us that because it’s a maximum security prison, you need two walls. Now you say you have enhanced manpower but is it sufficient to guarantee the prison its status as a maximum security facility?” posed Mr Wandayi.
Suna West MP Peter Masara added: “When the contract was being awarded, it was an emergency. You even used the restricted method of tendering to award it and its entire cost was paid for at a record speed. So when the wall collapsed, it ceased being an emergency? What has changed the situation?”
The committee heard that Public Works officers based in Coast were not involved in the construction of the perimeter wall and that those who supervised the project were from Nairobi.
The Transport principal secretary at the time appointed three officers from the ministry to compile a report following the collapse of the wall, but auditors attached to the committee said they are yet to see it.
“This was a scheme to siphon public funds. The concern was never about building a wall for the good of the country’s security architecture but an avenue to assist some people make money,” said Mr Wandayi.
