Nakuru reps earn dubious reputation of signing tender contracts

A number of MCAs, county executive committee members and chief officers at Nakuru county’s executive and assembly are said to be minting millions of shillings from county suppliers and other contractors.
The contractors said the vice starts with demands for kickbacks from the county officers and other junior staff especially in the finance and procurement departments.
Although they exonerated the current county procurement and chain supplies officer Eliezah Ngarari from the vice, the contractors claimed the kickbacks allegations gripped the county rampantly towards the end of last year.
“These unjustified demands from the officers compromise service delivery and quality standards rendered to the county by us. We will have to get the middle ground on how to maintain our prospective profits and you know this must be attained through compromising quality,” lamented a contractor.
The MCAs allegedly involved in this chain of fraud and sleaze are said to be demanding at least 5pc as a bribe if any project is to commence in their respective electoral wards.
A number of suppliers and contractors further revealed that in November last year; they sent a delegation of 10 representatives to see Governor Kinuthia Mbugua over the corruption accusations.
The governor is said to have been shocked when the contractors visited him and immediately formed a team to investigate how rife this graft is in a bid to minimise, if not eliminate it from the corridors of Nakuru county.
They are concerned that the chain makes them lose up to 40pc of their contractual payments to the corrupt officers.
“The first level of the gravy train is at the wards level where MCAs demand 5pc to allow you to start your approved project. The next level is from engineers led by the ones at the site and in charge of sub-counties upto the county engineers, directors and county’s chief officers,” the anonymous contractor further revealed.
He said that it was shameful that only  Nakuru out of all counties where an MCA has a place to sign in contracts awarded yet they are not experts of anything and neither was it part of their oversight and legislative role in the electorate’s representation.
Despite the fraud assertions, the contractors and suppliers are now optimistic that Kinuthia’s promise to step up the war on fraud allegations and the commitment of the current procurement officer Ngarari on the elimination of such vices, their business will improve from the past scam debris.
“As a result the improvement will allow us to do standard supplies and works as per the bill of quantities guidelines from the national and count government qualified engineers,” the contractors concluded.