Members of the Parliamentary Committee on Education have threatened to censure Education Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi in Parliament for withholding useful information regarding the botched laptop procurement process.
The lawmakers led by Awendo MP Jared Opiyo said the committee on several occasions demanded to be furnished with crucial information on Olive Telecommunications but the Education Ministry blatantly refused.
Mbooni MP Kisoi Munyao and his Laikipia East Counterpart Antony Kimaru accused Kaimenyi of holding the House team in contempt and giving wrong information to the members.
The House MPs began probing the Sh24 billion laptop tender to supply laptops to primary schools after it emerged that the winning bidder used a sample from its rival company.
The committee had last month called for the suspension of the project until all the issues surrounding it were addressed but Kaimenyi dismissed the plea and insisted that the project must go on.
Education Committee Chairperson Sabina Chege threatened stern action against the Ministry of Education should it sign tender documents to allow Indian firm Olive Telecommunications to supply the laptops to primary schools.
The committee is in the process of undertaking an audit of the whole tendering process and issue a report.
The tender for one of the key pillars in the Jubilee Coalition manifesto was re-advertised after the initial bid was cancelled.
The censure threat against Kaimenyi came a day after the award of the tender to Olive Telecommunications was cancelled by the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board.
Making the ruling on Tuesday, the board’s chairperson Josephine Mongare said Olive Telecommunications did not only lack the financial capability to implement the project, but also quoted Sh1.4 billion higher than the required threshold.
The board said the company should have quoted Sh23.2 billion instead of Sh24.6 billion adding that the excess amount included by the company was to be used for some services which were supposed to be offered free.
The ruling was made after Haier Electrical Appliances Corporation Limited of China and HP filed an application on February 14 and 13 respectively to block the award tender by the Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi on February 7.
The Ministry of Education plans to roll out the programme in three years. The first batch of 400,000 laptops to various schools was expected by the end of March this year.
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