Caroline Wafula
9 November 2009
Nairobi — The 130 Passats that the Treasury bought for Cabinet ministers were acquired through an open competitive tendering process, a House committee heard on Monday.
Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta gave an account of the tender process through the Ministry of Public Works that saw CMC Holdings win the bid over eight other applicants.
Mr Kenyatta, also the Finance minister, was testifying to the Public Accounts Committee.
He said CMC Holdings was awarded the tender whose notice was published in June last year, at a cost of Sh499.5 million against a budget of Sh500 million.
According to the minister and his Treasury team, the purchase of the cars passed the test of integrity, transparency and accountability.
He defended the choice of Passats, saying it was the cheapest model for the VIPs in terms of maintenance and engine capacity: "It meets the requirements of economy and efficiency in the spirit of the procurement Act."
Other companies that tendered for the supply of the vehicles included DT Dobie, Toyota East Africa, General Motors, Marshals, Simba Colt, Subaru Kenya and Amazon Motors.
Mr Kenyatta wondered why the choice of CMC had generated controversy, pointing out that in terms of Government sales, DT Dobie has had the highest proportion.
PAC heard that as of 2pm on Monday, 123 of the new vehicles had been issued - 33 to ministers, 43 to their assistants and 47 to permanent secretaries and accounting officers. This is against the 111 vehicles surrendered.
Mr Kenyatta was accompanied by among others Finance PS Joseph Kinyua and Financial Secretary Mutua Kilaka.
The meeting had kicked off at 3pm on a rather acrimonious note with the Minister saying that proper procedure had not been followed in summoning him: "We received the summons through the media as if we had committed a crime."
PAC chair, Boni Khalwale had tabled documents from dealers of the vehicles insisting DT Dobie had a cheaper model of a car equivalent to a Passat, going at Sh 1.4 million against the Passat's Sh3.7 million.
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