Labor Ministry Officials Face Arrest for Auctioning Gov’t Vehicles for Sh12,000

Parliament has asked Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji to arrest and charge Labor Ministry officials who secretly sold government vehicles at cheap prices.

The officials are accused of selling top-of-the-range government vehicles for as little as KSh.12,000 through a secret auction. Parliament gave DPP three months to charge officials involved in the scheme that led to the loss of public funds.

The Labor Ministry allegedly concealed the auction of 17 cars after it advertised the sale on April 7th, 2017 in a local daily as opposed to at least two daily newspapers of national circulation contrary to Section 96(2) of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015.

In the skewed auction, a Peugeot 504 Station Wagon is said to have been sold for KSh.12,000 while three Nissan Patrols were sold for KSh.522,000 despite receiving combined bids of KSh.5.2 million.
“The DPP should move with speed and prosecute all those found to be culpable in the irregular disposal of the vehicles,” Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chair Opiyo Wandayi said in a report that was adopted by Parliament before it broke for Christmas recess.

The process of auctioning the vehicles was irregular and value for money could not be ascertained, according to the House Committee.

“The Cabinet Secretary should discipline the accounting officer and the officers who were involved in the disposal of the assets contrary to Section 72(1) of the Public Finance Management Act, No. 8 of 2012 and surcharge the officers where the amount of loss is quantified,” the report adds.

In an audit report, former Auditor-General Edward Ouko singled out the sale of 17 government vehicles that were disposed of through the auction. Ouko noted that a Peugeot 504 owned by the Ministry of Labor was sold for KSh.12,000 while MM Nissan Patrol was sold for a measly KSh145,000 despite one bidder offering to pay KSh.2.1 million. Further to this, a Volkswagen Passat purchased in 2010 for KSh.3.5 million and with no visible damage was sold for KSh.32,000.

“The vehicles were grossly undervalued with some being sold below the bid prices and some attracting extraordinary bids,” noted Ouko.

A Nissan Patrol, GK A 692Y, attracted a bid of KSh2.1 million but was sold for only KSh145,000 while a VW Passat, registration GK A990T, with no visible damage was disposed of for KSh32,000 despite getting a bid price of KSh100,000. A Nissan Patrol had a reserve price of KSh131,000 and a buyer was offering to pay KSh1.3 million but only KSh250,000 was receipted.