Philemon Kiprop Kandie, the Director General of the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA), is under scrutiny in a multi-billion road construction tender dispute involving competing Chinese firms.
The Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) has received a complaint accusing the Road Authority of procurement fraud.
The contention lies in the awarding of a road upgrading tender to a firm that had placed the highest bid price, thereby allegedly shortchanging a firm that had bid lowest.
The embattled KERRA DG Hon Philip Kandie
A letter obtained by Kenya Insights reveals that one of the firms contesting the tender award claims it was over-quoted by Sh. 1 billion. The letter reads in part, “KERRA intends to award any of the said projects to the highest bidder, most especially in RWC 652 where it is alleged that a decision has been made to award the highest bidder where the difference in tender sums exceeds Kshs 1,000,000,000 (one billion Kenya shillings).”
The contested tenders are for the completion of stalled road projects being retendered under the Roads 10,000 Program in 2023/2024, to be financed by the Government of Kenya through the Development Vote.
A screenshot from a local newspaper in Kenya
In a follow-up letter to the roads agency dated 26th March, PPRA stated that they had received additional information regarding the tender and warned Kandie against taking any action until the matter is conclusively heard and settled.
The letter further reminded Kandie of his duty as an Accounting Officer to safeguard public resources.
The complainant alleges a scheme to flout the set procurement laws by irregularly awarding the contracts to underqualified companies, pointing to a major corruption scandal.
The letter states, “The Complainant is aware that KERRA has made or is about to make an award to a bidder who had the highest financial bid and not the one with the lowest financial bid as provided under Sections 83 and 86 of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act (“the Act”) and Article 227 of the Constitution of Kenya.”
