MPs probe sports academy inflated contract cost

 

Parliament has opened an inquiry into a multimillion-shilling international sports academy amid suspicion taxpayers could have lost money in unjustifiable variations.

National Assembly’s Public Investment, Administration and Agriculture committee has recommended a comprehensive inquiry to find how the contract cost of the International Sports Centre, Kasarani, rose from the initial Sh859,814,770 to Sh1.03 billion.

The committee is chaired by Navakholo MP Emmanuel Wangwe.

Arriving at the decision, he said the committee was not getting sufficient explanation as to why there was a jump on the contract cost.

“I feel we need to open full inquiry into the project so that we get actual cost of the project,” Wangwe said.

“We will convert this discussion into an inquiry where all the parties will be invited to testify.”

The sports centre was flagged by Auditor General Nancy Gathungu.

She questioned how the payments were made over and above the agreed contract sum.

“As of June, 2019, management had made payments totalling Sh1,036,445,457 against the contract sum of Sh859,814,770,” Gathungu pointed out in her 2018-19 audit findings. The variation means the management overpaid by Sh176,630,687.

At the time of payment, the project completion level was estimated at 90 per cent.

“Under the circumstances, the validity of the contract variation could not be confirmed,” Gathungu said.

The project’s scope included the construction of a hostel, a two-floor hostel, two football pitches, two basketball pitches, a rugby pitch and a borehole.

The project was initially implemented by the Sports Stadia Management Board, now Sports Kenya before the mandate was transferred to the Kenya Academy of Sports (KAS).

Appearing before the Wangwe-led committee on Tuesday, KAS chief executive officer Doreen Odhiambo said her efforts to get documents from Sports Kenya have been unsuccessful.

She admitted that KAS made payments without obtaining the bills of quantities, a move the team said was irregular.

“We must treat this organisation as hostile. There are documents they are hiding from us. You can’t vary cost of the project without BQ. What then is the basis of the variation?” Suna West MP Peter Masara posed.

On the overpayment, Odhiambo said the contractor’s fee was not included in the initial project.

“In the conceptual stages of the project, Sports Stadia Management Board engaged services of private consultants to develop architectural designs, bills of quantities and supervise implementation of the entire project, ” Odhiambo told the committee. 

by LUKE AWICH