Bullet proof jackets that cannot stop knife stab raise queries

What you need to know:

600 body armour jackets were delivered without the ballistic plates that offer protection against bullets.
The goods were delivered and received into the stores and later distributed to various prisons stations without being inspected for strength.
Department could not account for Sh8.6 million it paid a contractor to supply and install 190 CCTVs

The Prisons department is on the spot for spending Sh43 million to procure bullet-proof jackets that cannot even protect warders against a knife stab.

Auditor-General Edward Ouko says the 600 body armour jackets were delivered without the ballistic plates that offer protection against bullets.

An audit of the department found that 300 bullet-proof jackets were procured at a cost of Sh22,275,000 and another 300 at a price of Sh20,998,000.

The department’s records show that goods were delivered and received into the stores and later distributed to various prisons stations without being inspected for strength.

“An audit inspection later revealed that the body armour do not have ballistic panels and cannot be used to protect staff against rifle fire, ammunition, knife stab and sharp or pointed instrument,” Mr Ouko says in a qualified audit opinion on the financial statements of the Prisons department for the year to June 2017.

No value for money

In the circumstances, Mr Ouko says, the department has not obtained value for money in respect of expenditure worth Sh43,272,500 as required under Section 68(1)(b) of the Public Finance Management Act, 2012.

The audit also found that the department could not account for Sh8.6 million it paid a contractor to supply and install 190 closed circuit television cameras (CCTVs) at one of the maximum security prisons.

The contract was awarded to Jamax Logistics Enterprises at Sh43,184,480 on January 10, 2017 for supply, delivery, installation, testing and commissioning of IP-based CCTV Surveillance System at Naivasha Prison.

The contract period was indicated as 12 weeks from the date of site possession and payments totalling Sh43.2 million were processed in respect of the contractor in 2016/2017.

“Audit inspection undertaken on December 13, 2017 revealed a loss of Sh8,645,000 as detailed below,” Mr Ouko said in the report dated May 15, 2018 and tabled in Parliament by Leader of Majority Aden Duale.

The audit found that although the contractor was paid Sh12 million for the supply of 190 cameras, verification confirmed existence of 158 cameras, resulting in a loss of 32-five Megapixel Cameras worth Sh1,728,000.

“The audit further established that 52 cameras costing Sh4,576,000 installed at the reception and hospital block are defective, and therefore, not functioning... Further, the audit revealed that the contractor supplied eight Power Distribution Boards instead of 30, resulting in a loss of 22 contracted units costing Sh550,000,” the audit says.

Storage capacity

The contractor was required to supply and install 64 Channel 400 Mbps Network Video Recorder (NVR) with minimum 48TB 12 Hot swaps HDDs Internal Video Storage (RAID 6).

“However, five 3.63 TB totalling 18.15 TB and 5 Hot swaps HDDs were installed instead of 48 TB and 12 Hot swaps HDDs required, resulting in a loss of Sh1,791,000.

Consequently, the storage capacity is low, resulting in fluctuations in the required CCTV services,” the report says.

Besides, the audit found that the contractor has not offered the required training on use of CCTV services and that the Prisons department did not provide for audit review, the certificate of completion together with minutes of handing over of the project as required by law.