In the continuity of our investigations into the allegations against the East African Community (EAC) Secretary General (SG), Amb. Liberat Mfumukeko made by Dr. Enos Bukuku (former EAC Deputy Secretary General) and by four Permanent Secretaries (PSs) of EAC Partner States, TrumpetNews questioned internal sources at EAC and has received several pieces of evidence.
The underpinnings of this case are breathtaking and make a lot of reflection on the honesty of the Honorable Permanent Secretaries who conducted an apparently impartial investigation.
This website has since established that EAC contract with Liberty Insurance was to end in June 2016.
This company had been with EAC for more than 10 years with contracts extended year after year without being subjected to the mandatory procurement requirements of a competitive bidding process.
“When Mfumukeko took over in April 2016, he decided that the competitive bidding process would be strictly adhered to for the recruitment of an insurance company which would cover EAC from July 1, 2016,” our investigations reveal.
The EAC Procurement structures handled the process but when they submitted their report to the SG, the latter noticed a number of anomalies and flaws which could not possibly allow him to approve and award a contract to the bidder they recommended, Britam Insurance.
The anomalies were confirmed by reports of the EAC Internal Audit Department, the Procurement Advisory Committee appointed to review the procurement process, and the EAC Audit Commission in their 2016 report.
Fraud?
TrumpetNews has learnt that as the SG was taking his leave in July 2016, he entrusted the procurement file to Dr. Enos Bukuku. By the time the SG got back at the end of July, he was faced with the unthinkable: in a period of one month Dr. Bukuku had caused a crisis by initiating correspondences with both Liberty and Britam awarding contracts, revoking them and then re-awarding without consulting anyone in EAC, including the SG.
During these exchanges and out of the confusion created by Dr. Bukuku, EAC was squarely placed in a situation of vacuum of insurance cover; the Community staff, Members of the EAC Parliament (EALA) and their families were put at risk.
The last company to be awarded a contract by Dr. Bukuku was Britam who responded in writing that they were ready to negotiate a contract with EAC but would not cover any claims. At that time, EAC had lost a Member of Parliament, late Hon. Hafsa Mossi, and both Hon. Mulengani, an EALA MP from Uganda, and Mrs. Wivine Ntamubano, an EAC employee, had had an accident.
Mfumukeko Averts Crisis
A management decision had to be taken as a matter of urgency.
The SG convened an urgent executive meeting which agreed to extend Liberty’s contract for six months from July 01st to December 31st, 2016 ; the extension was based on the same terms and conditions of their previous contract with EAC (which had ended on June 30th, 2016). Liberty was paid a total premium of $308,905 for six months and they paid all the pending claims amounting to $670,353.
This amount would have been paid by EAC had the Community remained without any insurance cover or had the contract been awarded to Britam who had clearly indicated that they would not pay any outstanding claims.
Yet, in their report, the PSs somehow managed to observe that the six-month contract extension to Liberty “resulted to a financial loss for the Community of $68,905″ because the contract was not awarded to the most competitive bidder, Brittam, who refused to cover outstanding claims of $670,353.
One wonders why Mfumukeko is questioned for refusing to approve a flawed procurement process, and for saving the Community from the consequences of a lack of an insurance policy.
But the question lingers, were Dr. Bukuku, some of the EAC Procurement officers, and the PSs interested parties?