Committee seeks audit of Sh1b portable clinics deal
By Mercy Mwai, December 3, 2019
A House committee wants the Auditor General to undertake a comprehensive performance audit of the payment of Sh1 billion for the supply of 100 portable medical clinics.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) led by Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi raised concerns that the government may not have got the value for money for the 100 clinics worth Sh10 million each.
In a report tabled in the National Assembly, the committee regretted that the expenditure by the Ministry of Health was irregularly incurred.
The portable clinics were procured more than two years ago to increase access to health services but up to date they have been lying idle at NYS yard in Mombasa despite lack of such facilities in slums and rural areas where they were to be taken to ease the agony expectant mothers endure.
“Within three months after tabling and adoption of this report, the Auditor General should undertake a comprehensive performance audit on the project to evaluate whether the citizen has got value for money in the project and submit the report to Parliament for tabling and debate as provided for in Section 36 (2) of the Public Audit Act, 2015,” read the report in part.
The committee in its report accused the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) of taking inordinately long to investigate the matter. EACC commenced its investigations into the alleged fraud in October 2017 after an internal audit report detailing the loss was leaked.
Further, the MPs trashed the explanation by Health Principal Secretary Susan Mochache, relating to the project justification as well as the cost of portable clinics versus constructed ones, saying this did not address all the issues raised satisfactorily.
Under the contract agreement, the supplier was to supply, install, commission and hand over the 100 clinics at Sh1 billion.
The MPs’ move comes after the Auditor General in the 2016/17 financial year said it was not possible to determine whether the government obtained value for money for the expenditure of Sh800 million.