Ndegwa Njiru Dismantles Waiguru's Procurement Officer's Testimony [VIDEO]

Lawyer Ndegwa Njiru.
Lawyer Ndegwa Njiru. He is representing Kirinyaga County in the hearing to impeach Governor Anne Waiguru which started on June 23, 2020.
File

Kirinyaga County supply chain management director Joseph Carilus Otieno, was a nervous wreck on Wednesday, June 24, as lawyer Ndegwa Njiru cross-examined his testimony during the impeachment hearing of Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru.

Speaking before the special Senate Committee headed by Senator Cleophas Malala, the procurement officer was pinned over a tender awarded to Velocity Partners Ltd, with Njiru forcing Otieno to acknowledge that the tender documents showed two different companies.

The saga surrounding two companies, Velocity and Velocty Ltd was brought to light, with the procurement officer confirming the existence of the two companies within the same tender.

The head of procurement was also unable to provide a certificate of incorporation for a company that won the tender to build Kagio matatu stands in Kirinyaga County.

Ndegwa Njiru: Who are the contracting entities?

Carilus Otieno: The County Government of Kirinyaga

Ndegwa Njiru: And with who?

Carilus Otieno: Velocity Partners Ltd.

Ndegwa Njiru: Velocity with 'CTY' or 'CITY'

Carilus Otieno: Velocity with 'CTY'

Ndegwa: And the representation of the contract represents Velocity with 'CTY' or CITY?

Carilus Otieno: It represents Velocity with 'CTY'.

Ndegwa Njiru: Read out contract hapa Carilus.

Carilus Otieno: That one indicates Velocity with 'CITY'.

Ndegwa Njiru: Very good. And who executed that agreement?

Carilus Otieno: The accounting officer.

 

The procurement officer was cornered into pointing out the alleged errors in the documentation, with Njiru going as far as offering him his own copy of the documents when Otieno seemed to be struggling to find the pages being read out by the lawyer.

Njiru went further to scrutinise the contentious Velocity company, leading to even more drama at the hearing as Otieno, under oath, pointed out to an alarming error.

Ndegwa Njiru: There is a 5 indicated there, does it represent that the company has 5 years of experience?

Carilus Otieno: It represents marks

Ndegwa Njiru: Which Category?

Carilus Otieno: 5 years and above

Ndegwa Njiru: When was the company incorporated?

Carilus Otieono: 2017

Ndegwa Njiru: We Move on.

Otieno went on to reveal that Velocty had bid for two tenders as a joint venture. "We usually encourage teaming to improve qualification and experience because we were dealing with software. I duly recommended the award for the tender," he stated.

"The contract with the wrong spelling was drawn by the legal team which still captured the typo. They may have overlooked it because of time and volumes of the document. The actual company is Velocty, not Velocity," he added.

By the time Ndegwa was done with his first round of questioning, the procurement officer's answers had raised more questions over the alleged corruption and abuse of office within Kirinyaga County. 

While speaking during a special sitting of the Kirinyaga County Government on Tuesday, June 9, Mutira Ward MCA Kinyua Wangui detailed various tenders that he described as shady, one of which touched on Velocity Partners Ltd.

Senator Cleophas Malala (Left) pictured during the first  hearing of Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru's impeachment Motion June 23, 2020.
Senator Cleophas Malala (Left) pictured during the first hearing of Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru's impeachment Motion June 23, 2020.
File

"Another one Mr. Speaker was the tender for the Design, Development, Installation and Commissioning of Integrated Hospital Management Information System. 

"What stands out is that this same tender had been completed by the previous county govt but was re-advertised and awarded to Velocity Partners Ltd at a value of Ksh50 million," the MCA detailed.

He went on to state that Velocity Partners Ltd did not exist before the tender was advertised and that it was still paid in full despite the lack of evidence of any works carried out.

It was this particular tender that lawyer Njiru used to push the Kirinyaga County procurement officer into acknowledging blatant errors.

Notably, in 2015 Ndegwa Njiru and his colleague Francis Nyamu represented Embu Governor Martin Wambora during his third impeachment hearing.

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