CS Sicily Kariuki Summoned Over Illegal Ksh4.9bn Tech Tender

The Senate has summoned outgoing Health Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki over an illegal contract for provision of Ksh4.9 billion Health Care Information Technology (HCIT).

It has emerged that the ministry did not consult the Attorney General before signing the deal, that could emerge as another multi-billion scandal for the Jubilee government whose administration has been dotted with several multi-billion scandals in the last seven years.

Ms Kariuki was expected to appear before the Senate ad hoc committee on Medical Equipment Service (MES), of which HCIT is a component, on Friday but failed.

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The deal, said to have been inflated, was cancelled in July 2019, after the ministry realised its mistake.

According to Solicitor-General Ken Ogeto who appeared before the ad hoc committee on Thursday, the AG received a copy on September 21, 2018, almost a year after the contract had been signed.

“The Office of the Attorney-General was not involved in negotiating, drafting, vetting, clearance and approval of the contract prior to the signature as is required by law and the various circulars issued to government accounting officers,” Mr Ogeto, the principal assistant to the AG told the committee.

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The development puts to question Medical Equipment Service (MES) contracts that are all valued at about Ksh62 billion.

The HCIT contract was signed and executed by the Ministry of Health and Seven Seas Technologies on October 2, 2017,for development of health ICT infrastructure connecting all public hospitals to a central database.