The Public Accounts Committee of Nairobi County Assembly has opened a probe into stale road projects that may have led to possible loss of cash by the county.
The probe comes after the report by the Auditor General in 2019 that had flagged off the road projects worth hundreds of millions that probably may not have given Kenyan’s value for their money.
Led by Chairman Wilfred Odalo, the committee noted that it’s its mandate to ensure that Kenyans get value for their money by ensuring that projects are implemented as per contractual agreements.
In the first case, the probe revealed shocking dealings involving UBA Construction limited which was awarded a Ksh193 million tender to renovate a five-kilometre section of a road that didn’t exist at the time.
Nairobi County Regional Engineer Michael Nderitu found himself at the Centre of the discission after it emerged that his office had failed to ensure that contractors observed contractual agreements.
“How can you renovate a road that has not been there previously? I understand that renovations are only done on roads that were previously there?” Baba Dogo MCA Geofrey Majiwa questioned.
Despite the company failing to honour the timeline to deliver the agreed work, they had been awarded a second tender to build another road despite there being other bidders.
In another case of the probe, the committee discovered that Riruta Member of County Assembly, James Kiriba was a hindrance to the work.
The committee however gave the contractor an okay to proceed after Kiriba failed to appear before them.
