CA on the spot over Sh800m school internet contract

The Communications Authority (CA) is on the spot over a Sh828m contract that it inked with the Ministry of Education to connect all public secondary schools with internet.

The CA, through the Universal Service Fund (USF) was to implement the Education Broadband Project in conjunction with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology at a total cost of Sh828,370,376.

“In implementing the schools connectivity project, the authority is collaborating with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to provide broadband connectivity to all public secondary schools in Kenya,” the CA said in its website.

A report of the Auditor-General has, however, revealed various anomalies in the implementation of the project.

The report compiled by Auditor-General Edward Ouko, whose eight-year non-renewable term ended on Monday shows that there was no signed agreement between USF and the Ministry of Education that was provided for audit examination and therefore the implementation framework was not clear.

“The document submitted and alleged to support the cooperation was neither signed nor dated by any of the parties,” Mr Ouko said in a report dated May 22, 2019 and tabled in Parliament.

The USF entered into three contracts with suppliers to support implementation of the Education Broadband Connectivity project on April 21, 2017.

The audit shows the contracts had an implementation timeline of nine months and subsequent support period of four years after the implementation but the implementation had not been completed as at the time of audit in May 2019 which is in excess of two years.

“No evidence of contract extension was provided to validate the continued implementation of the project for over one year outside the contracted implementation timelines,” Mr Ouko said.

The report indicates that although the contract had specific payment schedule with 50 per cent or Sh196,617,702 of the implementation fee being payable after six months after signing of the contract and the other 50 per cent (Sh196,217,702) being payable after nine months after the signing of the contract, no expenditure has been accrued and reflected in the financial statements.

He said consequently, the accuracy of the project costs of Sh124,535,000 as reflected on the statement of financial performance for the year to June 2018 could be confirmed.