Duale denies links to firm at centre of Sh2bn tender scandal
National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale. A firm believed to him has been awarded government tenders worth Sh2.6 billion over the last ten years, a Nation investigation has revealed. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Ownership of the company could put Mr Duale in conflict with procurement laws.
- Mr Duale sent to us the national ID and passport photos of the other Aden Bare Duale, but said he did not have his mobile number.
- In April 2016, Concordia bagged another Sh573 million to improve the Kahawa and Kikuyu railway stations.
A firm believed to be associated with Garissa Township MP and National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale has been awarded government tenders worth Sh2.6 billion over the last ten years, a Nation investigation has revealed.
However, Mr Duale was Thursday quick to distance himself from the company.
On Thursday evening, he sent us the identification documents of the man he claims owns Concordia Building and Civil Engineering Company Limited, the firm in the multi-billion-shilling tender mystery.
CONFLICT
Ownership of the company could put Mr Duale in conflict with procurement laws, which prohibit State officers from doing business with the government.
Section 59 of the Public Procurement and Disposal Act is explicit on the participation of State officers in government tenders, noting that “a State organ or public entity shall not enter into a contract for a procurement… with State and public officers”.
Interestingly, Mr Duale sent to us the national ID and passport photos of the other Aden Bare Duale, but said he did not have his mobile number.
Also, the signatures on the identification documents neither tallied with those on the tender documents nor with the Majority Leader’s signature on his passport, thus begging the question: Who owns Concordia?
'NOT ME'
“I want to confirm to you that that person, Aden Bare Duale, is not me,” said the Garissa Town MP.
“It’s a different person. I can even send you his ID card number. I’m not in that company and I have never owned (such) a company in my life. Whenever people want to extort me, this story comes up.”
Documents in our possession show that Concordia Building and Civil Engineering Company Limited, a firm whose other director is Abdi Yakub Duale, has been a key contractor in dozens of government projects.
The majority leader has a brother with a similar name.
WON TENDERS
The Nation has in its possession documents indicating that, in the last 10 years, the company has won tenders worth more than Sh2.6 billion.
The said Mr Duale and Mr Yakub formed the company under Certificate of Incorporation number 144127, given by S. M. Ndisya for the Registrar of Companies.
The company won its first big contract, worth Sh185 million, to partition an office belonging to the Geothermal Development Corporation (GDC).
When the matter became public, the majority leader refused to comment.
RESIGNED
The Nation quoted minutes of Concordia dated September 12, 2014 and attended by Aden Bare Duale, Abdi Yakub Duale and Marian Mohammed Hassan, along with lawyer Fredrick Orego, in which “Mr Duale” resigned as director and transferred his shares to Marian Mohamed Hassan.
Which begs another question: If the said Mr Duale resigned, why does the majority leader insist he is the owner? And why does he carry copies of the man’s ID and passport?
Concordia seems to be well-connected and has been on a roll, bagging dozens of contracts and even moving to bigger offices at Mirage Tower along Waiyaki Way from its initial location in Garissa.
PROJECTS
Among the mega projects the company is currently carrying out is the improvement of commuter rail stations in Nairobi, construction of Rural Electrification Authority (REA) storage facilities, construction of Garissa Town water supply systems, and the failed Mitubiri Landfill project.
The four projects are worth Sh1.9 billion, documents we have seen show.
Since 2009, the company has been awarded tenders for projects worth a staggering Sh2.6 billion by the government, most of them after Jubilee Party came to power in 2013.
Last October, Tanathi Water Services Board awarded the company a Sh190 million contract for a water supply project under the Last Mile project being carried out by Kenya Power in Garissa.
MURANG’A LANDFILL
Concordia was also among the two firms that were jointly awarded a Sh2 billion contract to build the Mitubiri Landfill project in Murang’a County, which the government later pulled out of after protests from residents.
The landfill that was supposed to sit on 33 of the 50 acres, would have had a capacity to take in 500 tonnes of solid waste a day.
After three years, the buried organic waste would have produced methane gas for power generation.
Concordia was to get Sh792 million from the project, a bid award letter by Transport and Infrastructure ministry we have seen states.
By the time Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia pulled the plug on the project in May 2018, tarmacking of a 13-kilometre road to the site was ongoing.
RAILWAY STATIONS
In April 2016, Concordia bagged another Sh573 million to improve the Kahawa and Kikuyu railway stations, which are part of the ongoing World Bank-funded Nairobi Commuter Rail modernisation programme.
Other contracts Concordia has bagged in recent years include building of REA storage facilities in Mariakani worth Sh164 million, and maintenance of the Garissa-Mbalambala Road (Sh18 million).
Others are maintenance of Mwingi-Madogo Road (Sh143 million), maintenance of Kaya-Sakuna Road (Sh18 million), maintenance of Mtwapa water drainage systems (Sh277 million), and maintenance of roads in Garrisa Town (Sh6 million).
