Three cabinet ministers in the then President Mwai Kibaki’s administration gave nod to the Kerio Valley Development Authority for construction of Kimwarer and Arror multipurpose dams in 2008 and 2009, the anti-corruption court heard yesterday.
The advertisement for the construction work and issuance of the contract to Itialian firm, CMC di Ravenna-Itinera Joint Ventures, was authorised by the KVDA, the court further heard.
Ms Charity Mui, an official at KVDA, said a concept paper for the two botched projects was signed by cabinet ministers Fred Gumo, John Michuki and Uhuru Kenyatta. At the time they were serving in the Grand Coalition Government headed by President Mwai Kibaki.
The court heard that Mr Gumo being the Minister of Regional Development Authorities at the time, signed the concept paper on December 1, 2008 while Mr Michuki (former Minister Finance) signed it on December 3, 2008.
The paper was also signed by Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta on August 4, 2009 authorizing KVDA to continue with the planned construction of the dams.
Ms Mui told Chief Magistrate Lawrence Mugambi that there was a Cabinet memorandum by the Minister of Regional Development Authorities prepared for development of programs and projects in the region.
She was testifying as a Prosecution witness in the Sh63 billion graft trial of former National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich, former managing director of KVDA David Kimosop and seven others.
They include former Chief Economist Kennedy Nyakundi, former National Environment Management Authority Managing Director Geoffrey Wahungu, Kennedy Nyakundi (chief economist, Treasury), Jackson Njau Kinyanjui (director of resource mobilization, Treasury) and Titus Muriithi (the inspector-general of State corporations).
They are charged with conspiracy to defraud the Government of Kenya of USD 501,829,769.43 (Sh56,360,501,604.99) for the development of Arror and Kimwarer multi-purpose dam projects.
It is alleged that the accused persons committed the offences between December 19, 2014, and July 22, 2019 by improperly securing a commercial loan under the guise that it was a government-to-government agreement and in the process made the Kenyan government liable as a financier and borrower.
They are also accused of single sourcing an insurance policy and causing the government to lose Euros 42,088,198 (Sh5.56 billion at the current exchange rates).
Mr Rotich, who was replaced in July 2016 after serving in the finance docket since 2013, is battling 18 criminal charges in connection with tenders for the construction of the dams.
The Prosecution witness served as a secretary to KVDA Adhoc Technical and Evaluation Tendering Committee that evaluated tender documents in respect to the two projects. She was also a procurement officer at KVDA. Kimwarer dam was to cost Sh22.2 while Arror was to cost Sh28.3 billion.
Ms Mui told court that according to the Cabinet documents the projects were initiated under the Vision 2030 and the implementation had been extended for eight years.
She said after the Cabinet endorsed the plans KVDA placed advertisemnets in the local daily newspapers on December 19, 2014 inviting interested bidders to construct the dams.
Although the prosecution allege that the accused persons conspired to float tenders for the two projects and awarded CMC di Ravenna-Itinera Joint Ventures the contract, Ms Mui said no bidder was prejudiced and that the process was fairly competitive.
She said the procurement committee evaluated the bids and awarded the tender to the Itialian contractor.
However, Ms Mui was pressed by defence lawyer Katwa Kigen to explain why the Prosecution dropped her from the list of the accused persons and made her a witness following a plea-bargain agreement.
The court heard that after she offered to be a witness her suspension from work at KVDA was lifted, she was reinstated and was paid her accrued salaries.
“The DPP did not ask me to give them an affidavit to be a witness. I sat with my lawyer when I was one of the accused persons, went through the documentation given by the Prosecution and my lawyer and I were convinced that all those charges on me were not true,” she stated.
“That is when we wrote to the DPP explaining my part where I participated in the tender and in their response I was asked to put in form of an affidavit,” said Ms Mui.
Asked why the DPP accepted her offer and rejected a similar one by Mr Kimosop, the witness said she was not aware. Ms Mui is the first prosecution witness in the trial.
The prosecution led by Special Prosecutor and Senior Counsel Taib Ali Taib has lined up 32 witnesses to prove the case.
The DPP had initially charged 24 individuals in relation to the scandal but has since terminated charges against 15, among them Former Treasury Principal Secretary Kamau Thugge and his former East Africa Community counterpart Susan Koech, after they agreed to be prosecution witnesses. The hearing continues.
