The government may have lost millions of shillings meant for the construction of a modern training workshop at the Weru Technical and Vocational Training College, Kilifi County, officials claim.
The institution located in Bao Lala, Malindi Sub-County was officially launched in 2017 and has struggled to attract significant enrolment.
Details have emerged of how top officials at the institution may have colluded to defraud the government for the construction of the workshop.
The procurement department is alleged to have hurriedly single-sourced the contractor whom documents indicate has already been paid Sh1.9 million.
An unsuspecting donor has already offered assistance of Sh200 million worth of machinery to be used in the said workshop.
Some of the gaps identified in the procurement process include failure to conduct public participation and an impervious tendering process.
There was no public advertisement and the same was never published on the institution’s website for online users.
Investigations show contract agreements were not uploaded to the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority ( PPRA) website.
Also of concern is the fact that there was no public signboard to give communication to the public as per NCA guidelines.
Officials said there was no project manager attached to it from the Public Works Office with revelations also indicating that there were no permits from the county planning department and National Environment Management Authority ( NEMA) approving the construction.
For instance, Tatawe Investment Company has no NCA certificate to conduct any public works.
Officers on the spot include the Regional heads of TVETS and top officials at the college who signed and requested payment instead of the principal.
The other officers include the Head of Procurement and finance department among others.
When reached for comment Regional Director for TVETS Peter Mwangi said that we should go on the ground and a certain everything.
“You should go to the ground and get every comment.
Am sure of the program but get in touch with the concerned people,” he said
Tatawe Investment Company was on July 25, 2023, given documents for the construction of a block.
A concerned citizen who has raised the matter with the National Assembly Public Investments Committee on Governance and Education wants the process halted.
The Committee on August launched a probe into institutions of higher learning to unearth financial malpractices pointed out by the Auditor General.
The probe targets public Universities, Technical Vocational Education Training (TVET) institutions, and Technical Training institutes.
Committee Chairman Jack Wamboka said the probe, which is based on the auditor general’s reports, has been backdated to the 2019–2020 financial year to get to the bottom of the issues raised in the reports.
The issues raised in the three audit reports, he added, point to mismanagement of public resources, laxity, and incompetence of accounting officers, adding that the committee would go after the officers involved to recover lost funds.
“We are here to protect the public good and ensure that there is value for money for every shilling sent to these public institutions,” he said.
Most of the institutions, he said, had never been audited by the PIC, explaining the runaway corruption and gross financial mismanagement.
This, he said, was because the PIC in the last parliament was a giant committee with over 900 institutions to oversee.
“In this Parliament, the PIC has been split into three, and this will make sure that we reach all these institutions, which for many years have gone unchecked,” he said.
Accounting officers for Kisumu National Polytechnic, Seme Technical and Vocational College, Ugenya Technical and Vocational College, and Bondo Technical and Vocational College have already appeared before the committee.
The committee has been challenged to summon officials from Weru to clear the air on the matter raised against them.
Also of concern is the school fees payment uncertainties.
The technical institute charges Sh56,420 per student per year while the government provides Sh30,000 as a subsidy.
“This means a student is required to pay Sh26,420 per year, but if the amount is burdensome to the parent there are HELB loans which give out Sh40,000,” he said.
The chairman James Tuva Matole said that he is not aware of anything about the project and advised that we visit the institution to talk to the management about it.
Shukri Abdinoor of Tatawe Investment Company which is doing the project said that the company has nothing to hide and that questions related to the tendering process should be directed to the Principal.
