AG ORDERS FURTHER PROBE INTO YOUTH FUND SCANDAL (Daily Nation, Friday January 15, 2010)
By Nation Reporter
Attorney General Amos Wako has ordered further investigations into the Sh300 million loan scandal at the Youth Enterprise Development Fund. The scandal came to light after the board and the management differed on the deal between the youth fund and Enablis, a Canadian firm.
The AG’s move puts on ice the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission’s proposal that the loan agreement be cancelled, given that the laid down rules were not followed prior to the signing of the agreement. The inquiry found that in choosing Enablis, the board blatantly flouted government procurement regulations.“It was evident that Enablis was contracted through direct procurement without the requisite approval of the tender committee’’, the commission reported in its quarterly submission released yesterday.
Mr.Wako was of the opinion that only further investigations could help the youth body opt out, given that it would be hard for graft watchdog to sustain the charge of ‘’wilful failure to comply with procurement procedures’’. That too was the opinion of the commission. The anti-graft body reached the cross-roads after failing to quash the board’s argument laws had no room in a private-public partnership. Give advice The AG must have been tongue-tied too, given that he was approached by the youth fund’s chief executive to give his advice and that of the Public procurement’s authority before the deal was sealed. It is not clear from the report, what advice the AG offered. The agreement in question was that the youth fund would loan Shs 300 million for lending to qualify Kenyan Youth, but as a loan pre-condition, Enablis had to prove that it could also raise a similar amount.