The Kisumu County Slum Upgrading project under the Kenya Informal Settlement Improvement Project (KISIP) phase 2 is in jeopardy as county officials engage in corrupt procurement practices.
According to sources, the current Kisumu County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Finance Mr. George Okong’o is reportedly shuttling from one contractor to the next taking kickbacks with promise of issuing a contract.
As per World Bank’s compliance and Anti-Corruption Guidelines , such activities are sanctioned and can have the project suspended and the offending parties banned for life.
The World Bank has zero tolerance for corruption.
The Contract in question is titled: Construction of Roads & Drainage Works/Water Supply & Sewerage Works/Public Lighting Works for Lot1 & Lot2 in Kisumu County Country: The Republic of Kenya under Loan No. /Credit No. / Grant No.:67590 RFB No: KE-KISUMU COUNTY-362227-CW-RFB Issued on: 19th JULY, 2023.
Sources say the tender evaluation team went to Nakuru for the evaluation of the tender documents from 4th September to 9th September 2023. The CECM George and a leading Kisumu hotelier met in Nakuru on 9th September 2023, to ensure the report was in favor of one of the bidders.
The tender evaluation team was blackmailed, intimidated and threatened over the same. They were given Sh500k each with a promise of another 500k once the report is done.
“Let me tell you, the committee did not leave Nakuru until the preliminary report was done on Saturday night. They also managed to change & replace some defective documents of their preferred bidder in the tender submission. In all, George (CECM Finance) George did all this in exchange for a deal of Sh50million”, the source revealed.
To make matters worse or smooth for the greedy contractors, the source said the entire evaluation team was instructed not to report to their respective jobs at Kisumu County until further notice from George.
The source added that the CECM finance travelled to Nairobi on Tuesday (yesterday) & has summoned two senior personnel for approval & signature of the final report in favour of one of the builders
The question is, are the concerned parties i.e. Ministry of Lands, Public Works, Housing, and Urban Development, particularly the State Department of Housing and Urban Development under Principal Secretary Hinga, The World Bank, and the French Government/AFD/Embassy of France aware of the fraud that Kisumu County Finance CECM George Okongo has been perpetrating while meeting a hotelier in a 5 star Nakuru Hotel the last one week to determine the tender?
Kisumu County is scheduled to benefit from Lot 1 and Lot 2 components of the works described herein: – infrastructure improvement on Roads and Drainage Works in Bandani, Nyawita, Migosi, Manyatta A and Manyatta B Settlements in Kisumu city. – Water supply and sewerage works in Migosi and Manyatta B Settlements in Kisumu city. – Electrical Works in Migosi and Manyatta A Settlements in Kisumu city.
The KISIP Project
KISIP is a nationwide project that aims to enhance access to basic services and improve tenure security in urban informal settlements in Kenya.
This, the bank says, will be achieved by investing in infrastructure based on plans developed in consultation with the community, by supporting planning, surveying and issuance of land documents for residents of informal settlements, and by strengthening capacity of county administrations to deliver on their mandates.
There are four components in the project which are; the first component involves land tenure regularization, planning for infrastructure and socio-economic inclusion. The second component regards Infrastructure Upgrading in urban and informal settlement, the third is institutionalization and policy formulation and the last is technical assistance that anchor on project management, capacity building and enhancement of the ability of national, county, and community teams to exercise their roles and responsibilities. Fiduciary and contract management capacity building/support will also be provided.
The Government of the Republic of Kenya received combined financing from the World Bank (IDA) and the French Development Agency (AFD).
