Kenyan News Day.
SPECIAL REPORT
It has emerged that the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority is paying KTK Advocates Sh20 million each year in an open ended contract first signed in 2013 and for work so far not completed.
Kenyan News Day established the shocking revelations after conducting an investigation into the affairs of KEMSA and learnt that the firm associated with flamboyant lawyer Donald Kipkorir had continued sent demand fee notes to KEMSA for purported provision of assistance in acquisition of title deeds for its prime plots, but the firm had so far managed to successfully acquire titles for two plots only, in a period of seven years.
In an era when state officials are signing performance contracts, a d President Uhuru Kenyatta is insisting on efficiency in public service, one wonders how Kipkorir continued to be paid millions by KEMSA for non-delivery for nearly a decade.
According to information in our possesion, Kipkorir allegedly used his political connections to win the open ended contract when falsely presented his firm as a well connected practice that provided quality advice tailored to each client.
The saga has led to speculation that Kipkorir is in bed with infamous Afya House corruption cartels.
The blatant theft of public resources perpetrated by KTK Advocates was first flagged by the Auditor General who in his 2012/13 audit report pointed out that KEMSA had no title deeds and risked losing land worth more than Sh400 million located in prime locations in different parts of the country since they lacked proper documentation.
In some instances, KEMSA was being forced to lease warehouses at exorbitant prices because it’s own parcels of land were grabbed or occupied by unknown individuals.
At the time of filing this report, Kenyan News Day established KEMSA had still not received its title deeds for its depots in Mombasa, Kisumu, Eldoret, Kakamega, Nyeri, Garissa and Meru.
Seven years into the contract, we established, KTK Advicates had only managed to reclaim two depot land parcels; one for its depot in Embakasi, Nairobi, and the other for a parcel of land in Nakuru. For this, it had been paid a staggering Sh20 million.
In unanimous decision, Court Of Appeal in Civil Appeal No. 115 Of 2017 holds that KEMSA is entitled to its Mombasa Road property against “Private Developers” claiming it. Court held it’s good law for Public Interest to trump Private Interests. Glad to have represented KEMSA.
— Donald B Kipkorir (@DonaldBKipkorir) June 26, 2018
While the twitter-obsessed Kipkorir was celebrating his single victory in court, the National Assembly Public Investments Committee was asking hard questions.
“It is not possible that since 2013 only two title deeds have been delivered by KTK Advocates,” committee Chairman Abdulswamad Nassir said.
In its report adopted by Parliament, the PIC members accused KEMSA and KTK Advocates for disenfranchising the tax payer by taking an inordinate amount of time to register the title deeds despite having the necessary documentation in place and despite the law firm insisting on its multi-million fee notes paid by KEMSA.
PIC ordered that KTK advocates should expedite acquisition of ownership documents for the land within six months. This deadline has since passed without any action from either KEMSA or KTK Advocates
As Managing Partner and founder of KTK Advocates, Donald Kipkorir has often prided himself as a well networked individual at Ardhi House. He has however failed to deliver title deeds to KEMSA leading lawmakers to question his sincerity and integrity.
Others MPs in PIC suggested KTK Advocates could be colluding with land cartels to use the prime title deeds belonging to KEMSA as collateral to illegally obtain bank loans and then flee, leaving tax payers with colossal debts to pay.
A member of the PIC Wajir West MP Ahmed Kolosh blamed KEMSA for hiring a law firm that half failed to deliver in five years.
“The challenge of acquiring title deeds facing KEMSA is pimarily due to the incompetent lawyer it hired. We need to know the duration this law firm was given the contract because it cannot be an open-ended contract,” Hon Kolosh said.
In 2018, just one year before he was ousted from office on graft charges, disgraced Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko controversially contracted KTK Advocates among five notoriously corrupt law firms to oversee the issuance of 800 title deeds by the County Government of Nairobi to squatters in Kayole.
The other firms include Miller and Company Advocates, Okundi and Company Advocates, KTK Advocates, MMC Africa Law and Kamau, Atudo and Macharia Advocates.
These firms were paid legal fees amounting to hundreds of millions of shillings that far exceed the cost of the land whose title deeds they were supposed to process. Insiders say each firm paid Sh50 million kickback to Governor Sonko.
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