The Ministry of Health was put on the spotlight on Wednesday over the controversial Sh63 billion leased medical kits programme.
Former Attorney General Githu Muigai blamed the ministry for failing to adhere to the legal advise he gave prior to the signing of the Managed Equipment Service (MES) programme.
Appearing before the Senate ad hoc committee investigating the deal, Githu said that the ministry ignored his advise to submit to his office the final contracts for review.
The ex-AG told the Fatuma Dullo (Isiolo)-led panel that he only gave the ministry the green light to sign pre-contracts with the contractors on February 6, 2015 at State House.
Thereafter, the ministry was expected to enter into further negotiations and send the documents to the AG’s office for review before signing the final and binding contracts.
But Senators Moses Wetangula (Bungoma) and Enoch Wambua (Kitui) demanded to know what exactly the office of the AG wanted to verify yet the there was an express letter from him allowing the ministry to sign the contracts on February 6.
“Where in this letter, is your express wording that what was being signed on the February of 6 was a ceremony? You have clearly indicated that they sign the contracts,” Wetangula said.
“What are you saying you want to review? Isn’t the contract concluded? And the question we are asking is, what are you reviewing? It is finalised. It is concluded. It is signed. What are you reviewing?” Wambua posed.
Githu explained that he only authorised the signing of the pre-contracts, a ceremonial event held at State House to show the parties’ willingness and intention to enter into a binding contract.
“On the February 6, they signed the pre-contract. The one intended to show that they would be contracting. The one that would be caught on camera and so on,” Githu said.
He added, “Then, they would go back and negotiate the final contract, they will not sign them, they will negotiate them. After they finish negotiating them, they would send them to me for review.”
“They never complied with that,” Githu insisted, shining the spotlight on the ministry that was then headed by CS James Macharia and PS Khadija Kassachoon.
Several players, including the council of governors, have termed the project a rip off the taxpayers with several reports indicating that the taxpayers got a raw deal.