Parliamentarians fault stadium construction

Lawmakers have poked holes on the construction and renovations of various stadia following revelations of irregularities in the procurement processes where competitive bidding was ignored and mismanagement of funds.

The MPs who sit in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) were shocked to learn that some of the contracts were varied by between Sh50 million and Sh150 million in respect to four stadia while in other cases, the contracts were issued through direct procurement because some of the facilities were to host National Day celebrations such as Mashujaa Day.

Sports Principal Secretary Elijah Mwangi, who appeared before the committee to respond to Auditor General Nancy Gathungu’s audit queries confirmed the variations of contracts. Further, he explained that the contractors on site were allowed to proceed with the contract as awarded before due to standardisation and compatibility issues.

The Sports PS defended the use of direct procurement saying that this was necessitated by the fact that the stadia were being used to host national celebrations.

The facilities in question include Wang’uru Stadium in Kirinyaga County, Kirigiti Stadium in Kiambu, Jamhuri Posta grounds in Nairobi and Jomo Kenyatta showground in Kisumu.

“For purposes of standardisation, we needed to use the same contractor, and we wanted to avoid conflicts with a new contractor. The use of direct procurement was due to the urgency to host Mashujaa Day celebrations,” the PS said.

Urgent splurge

For instance, in the case of Wang’uru, which was undertaken by Vee Vee Enterprises Limited, he confirmed that the contract sum was varied by Sh76.5 million from ShSh310.5 million to Sh387.05 million, representing a 25 per cent increase from the contract price.

In addition, he explained that the use of direct procurement of the project was undertaken due to the urgency to complete the stadium in order to host Mashujaa Day celebrations.

“Justification for use ofthe direct procurement method was made and approved by the accounting officer. Hosting of Mashujaa Day celebration of the stadium required some modifications necessary to standardise the stadium with other legacy projects,” he said.

With regards to Kirigiti, he confirmed that the contract was varied by Sh148.7 million, which saw the government paying Sh745.3 million from the initial Sh596.5 million due to additional works on the VIP pavilion, the terraces, gates, walls and tax adjustment factor due to change of VAT from 14 to 16 per cent.

On the use of direct procurement, the PS said this was necessary since there was a contractor on site undertaking the first phase of the project, adding that it was important for the same contractor to carry out the works for standardisation purposes, and the additional works were intertwined with the ongoing contractual works.

At the Jamhuri Posta grounds in Nairobi, which the government awarded three contracts worth Sh1.19 billion to three contractors, he explained that the use of direct procurement on the second and third contractor was for reasons of standardisation and for compatibility with existing goods and services since the additional works were intertwined with the ongoing works and needed to be executed hand in hand.

On Jomo Kenyatta show ground stadium in Kisumu, which was done at a cost of Sh350 million, he said that the project has been used to host Jamhuri Day celebrations, Africities and under 17 AFCON qualifiers.

He further said that to avoid vandalism and loss of property, they have set up a police post within the stadium to provide security

Despite the PS’s efforts to defend the use of direct procurement, the MPs led by the chairperson and Butere MP Tindi Mwale demanded that the department tables contracts signed between the department and the contractors, the Bills of Quantities (BQs) and the variation contracts of the four stadia.    

No retendering

They further disclosed that they will be touring the said facilities to assess the level of completion as well as determine whether there was value for money.

“We will have to suspend this stadium matter because of its complexities. Please bring all these documents that the members want, the contracts, the BQs, the variation contracts so that members can go through them,” Mwale told the PS

Turkana Central MP Joseph Namuar said the issue requires the committee to interrogate it further owing to the fact that despite the contract being varied, it was given to the same contractor who was on site instead of being retendered anew.

 “This is because there is something fishy about it, instead of the department getting a new contractor for the new variations, it gave the contractor an extension,” he insisted.

Aldai MP Marriane Keitany said the committee should also be provided with the names of all the contractors on site and the details of how they ended up getting the contracts.

Gatundu South MP Gabriel Kagombe said that an audit needs to be done on some of the stadiums, as the works done there are of very poor quality.

“In the case of Kirigiti stadium, that stadium floods; if it rains today, it will be submerged in water and it will not be accessible,” he said.

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