A woman shocked MPs after she revealed that she walked into Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA) and walked out with a lucrative tender.
Zubeda Nyamulendo, Director at Aszure Commercial Services, on Wednesday told the Public Investment Committee (PIC) that she won a Sh300 million tender to supply the agency with protective masks.
Ms Nyamulendo who dodged most of the legislators’ questions said she had not done business with the government prior to bagging the tender.
Asked if she was the only signatory to the company accounts, Ms Nyamulendo said a colleague only identified as Stanley, was a signatory.
Nairobi Woman Rep Esther Passaris demanded that the Aszure company director gives the committee Stanley’s full name.
Ms Nyamulendo further stunned the committee when she could not recall Stanley’s surname. Stanley Kithia, Dorothy Omogi and a Phanice Adhigo were the shareholders when the company was founded back in 2017.
Read: How “Lucky” Passerby Landed Sh180 Million Kemsa Tender
Kaloleni MP Paul Katana wondered how she bagged the tender and received a commitment letter only four days after walking into the offices.
Katana noted that the company could have been used by influential persons and she was only a pawn.
“You can’t walk to an office and simply get a commitment letter to supply Sh347 million worth of goods without any previous supplies,” the MP said.
It would later emerge that former EACC CEO Halakhe Waqo signed the firm’s surety for a loan from First Community Bank.
It was Waqo that helped unlock funding for the local purchase order (LPO) for the company prequalified as a supplier of office furniture, fittings, and other assorted equipment.
Read Also: Auditor-General Admits Error In KEMSA Report
“The bank needed security to give us the huge amount of money we requested. Waqo gave us the assurance and we included him as a director,” she said.
“The bank needed security or assurance. Waqo came on board as a surety and I wrote a letter introducing him as a signatory. The letter was to provide for three people to sign the loan,” Nyamulendo said.
The company got a Sh176 million loan from the bank and another loan for Sh171 million after Kemsa paid for the first LPO in three weeks.
This was despite Nyamulendo not delivering the assigned stocks on time.
In fact, she told the Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir-led committee that she did not remember what she wrote to the government agency when she was given more time to deliver the masks.
The committee has summoned Waqo to explain his involvement with the company.
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