Kiambu Women Representative Gathoni Wa Muchomba has called out President Uhuru Kenyatta's team, the Presidential Delivery Unit (PDU), for not fulfilling the promise made to young men regarding a tender to supply hospital beds.
In a statement, Wa Muchomba expressed disappointment in how the President's team handled the matter, revealing that the young team had been left to sink in debts and face a possible auction.
The statement reads, "All the Head of PDU offered was arrogance, lies and non-committal promises including threatening one of the partners of arrests claiming he's a conman."
Following the rising cases of Covid-19 in 2020, the President had promised to buy 500 beds from two Kenyan entrepreneurs, Mungai Gathogo, 26, and Joseph Muhinja, 35.
However, months later, the two complained that they were stuck with a loan of Ksh3.6 million demanded by the bank and other creditors.
The Kiambu Women Rep attempted to mediate between the young entrepreneurs and PDU as she publicly condemned the President's team.
Wa Muchomba also blamed the team for the reported unpopularity of President Kenyatta in Kiambu County.
"Now I know why Uhuru Kenyatta is losing the political goodwill of young people in Kiambu. To the president, your Presidential Delivery Unit is a scam. Ask me for details of what was said today in the presence of the area DCC...total disregard of the young people!" she remarked.
According to PDU Secretary Andrew Wakahiu, the government's intention to procure the locally manufactured hospital beds was rethought after it emerged one of them was facing several criminal allegations.
"The revelations were made even as a visit to the workshop where the innovators claim to have been making and storing beds that have allegedly left them wallowing in debts showed little activity with only a single ready bed in sight," reads the statement.
Wakahiu also stated that the government faced challenges processing the offer to procure the beds after obtaining intelligence that Gathogo was allegedly facing in at least three cases related to fraud and obtaining money by pretense.
He indicated that in spite of the issues, the government offered to pay for the beds in the entire stock of what was ready. However, a lorry hired to ferry the beds returned empty.
The PDU Secretary said, "We came here prepared to buy all the beds and other materials these young men claim to have made or procured. Regardless of the controversies around the young man and the firm’s ownership, as a Government, we don’t want their lives ruined by debt."
No comments:
Post a Comment