BY WAHOME THUKU: MAKING OF furniture and motor vehicle number plates is one of the quickest income generating initiatives for Kenyan Prisons (Correctional Services Dept). This department is under the Interior Docket.
According to my sources within Magereza, the supply of the sheets used for making number plates and the accessories is exclusively reserved for the top cream in the department and in other government sections.
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“That is a no-go zone for the common guys”, my source tells me. The money generated by issuance of plates is good and comes in fast and the suppliers are paid quickly. At times, the demand even overwhelms the supply.
On the other hand is the supply of timber for making furniture. Again, this is under revolving fund of the prisons. Every prison has a workshop for furniture produced by mahabusu which is of good quality.
The supply of timber to prisons is a cutthroat competition riddled with high level corruption. This is despite the fact that under the government affirmative action policy, the supply I exclusively allocated to companies owned by women, youth and the persons with disability.
Senior administrators especially in the procurement network have registered companies in the names of their wives and girlfriends to beat the requirement. These companies are given open preference in the tenders almost at nil struggles and with the least of shame.
My source gave me several names and the top companies that have won the tenders over the years.
For those companies that fall within that list of the green-eyes, the payments are prompt. They are paid within days.
For example, companies that supplied timber in November last year were paid early this year. Others that supplied at the same time are still waiting in the queue.
Internal sources says when the new PS Zainab Abdalla Hussein who took over the docket in a reshuffle in July she noted and questioned why some companies were given preference in the payouts yet others which had supplied much earlier were not considered.
The source told me that the PS then suspended further payments and has undertaken to resume the payments early next year. I can’t confirm that, I can only rely on the word of my source.
The PS who took over from Alfred Cheruiyot may want to ask for the list of the companies that have enjoyed the tenders, check the names of the directors and make an inquiry on how they are related or associated with her juniors. The revelation will be clear.
According to Kenya Prisons insiders, many companies are not paid because the funds collected from sale of furniture are diverted to first pay the suppliers of the number plate raw material.
“The department gets calls from way above with instructions on who to pay,” the source reveals.
The supply of food is even worse, as the payments take even three years but understandably, food does not have returns.
The government is in the process of privatizing the commercial end of Kenya Prisons, in efforts to boost income and efficiency. That could take the corruption to another height.
The CS Fred Matiangi should follow up on President Kenyatta’s instructions that all State departments should disclose to the public the lists of ALL the companies that make their bids and those that win the tenders so that we can make a background check. It’s high time we stopped allowing the business as usual attitude.