In a continuation of an earlier story we published, a leaked Audit has revealed massive loss of funds at Lake Victoria North Water Works.
The agency is fully known as the Lake Victoria North Water Works Development Agency (LVNWWDA).
It is one of the eight Water Works Development Agencies established under the Water Act 2016 section 65(1).
The Agencies were established as part of the reforms in the water sector with the mandate of development of water and sanitation infrastructure projects within their areas of jurisdiction.
The projects are undertaken on behalf of the national government.
It was established on 26th April 2019 through gazette notice no. 28.
The Agency is Headquartered in Kakamega Town.
According to the report seen by Hot News, as at 10/07/2020, the Agency will not be able to meet its obligations to its creditors for example amount of retention money expected in the account is Kshs. 91,000,000 but only Kshs. 4,268,919 was available in the bank at 30th June 2020 in Nzoia account.
In addition, certificates amounting to Kshs. 18,000,000 were pending in cash office due to lack of funds.
Failure to meet the obligations may in turn lead to litigations and attract interest as outlined in contract documents.
This is contrary to the timelines stipulated under the customer charter.
Chebara school is expected to have unspent amount of around Kshs. 77M, among others.
There are several projects with expired security documents an indication that the Agency is exposed and does not enforce its own contractual obligations
The audit notes that there are several expenditures that were not budgeted for, neither were they in the procurement plan, a pointer to fraudulent activities including Marathon, ASK Shows participation, World Water day and Sanitation conference.
“A letter was issued to the CEO to explain on unlawful procurement process and procurement of goods and services not budgeted for. No feedback to date. Procurement and Disposal policy; still pending. Procurement of Dams and Pans despite of them missing in the approved procurement plan for F/Y 2018/19,” reads the audit.
The audit went on to say that there is no evidence of documentation of minutes for twenty (20) tenders out of the sampled thirty- three (33) tenders as expected.
“Tender evaluation committee; Ninety percent (90%) of appointees are not departmental heads and their representative are partly staff on short-term contract. The criteria applied for all procurements under audit review lacked clear scale and scoring despite existence and approval for adoption for it,” the audit went on.
When it comes to bids, individual assessment of each bid by evaluators is not being done prior to sharing the analysis.
Thirteen (13) out of thirty-three (33) sampled projects had surpassed the timelines to the extent of sixty-six (66) days against the recommended of thirty (30) days whereas nineteen (19) evaluations report were not duly signed by members.
“Flaws in the evaluation report, professional opinion and subsequently the award letter were identified and there was delay in signing the contract,” reads the report.
The contract implementation committee is not in existence at the organization.
“Performance security was not recovered after the terminations of six (6) contracts. Short-term contract staff appointed in the committee and in some instance the committee failed to execute fully their requirements outlined in the regulation,” the audit states.
At the date of audit, the disposal process had not been finalized despite the period being surpassed.
When reached for comment, LVNWW CEO Engineer Boniface Mulama did not respond to text messages nor calls.
He was suspended early this month by Water CS over unknown reasons.
He has been replaced in an acting capacity by Engineer Daniel Bundotich from the National Irrigation Authority.
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