Auditor-General Edward Ouko has put the Kenya prisons department on the spot for acquiring bullet-proof jackets that cannot protect the warders from knife stabs or bullets.
The 600 jackets are said to have been procured at Ksh43 million and were received in batches of 300. The first batch was purchased at Ksh22.7 million and the other batch at a little over Ksh 20 million which amounted to the huge cost.
The Auditor-General faulted the jackets for lacking ballistic plates which act as complementary armor in case of an attack.
[caption caption="Auditor-General Edward Ouko- via Facebook"]
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“An audit inspection later revealed that the body armour do not have ballistic panels and cannot be used to protect staff against rifle fire, ammunition, knife stab and sharp or pointed instrument,” Ouko stated.
Mr Edward Ouko further stated that the prisons department could not, therefore, claim to had received value for money and as such, it had to account for the huge figure in their financial reports.
The Auditor-General’s report also noted that his audit revealed Ksh8.6 million had been used to acquire CCTV cameras that could not be accounted for as well.
“Audit inspection undertaken on December 13, 2017, revealed a loss of KSh8,645,000,” he noted in a report that was tabled to the Parliament by Majority Leader Aden Duale.
Some of the cameras which were about 190 in total delivered to Naivasha Maximum Prison, were found to be defective and malfunctioning.
“The audit further established that 52 cameras costing Ksh4,576,000 installed at the reception and hospital block are defective, and therefore, not functioning,” the report read.
[caption caption="An image of inmates at the Naivasha Maximum Prison- via Facebook"]
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