How Malta plant lost multi-million tender to Kenyan politics

Kenya's government has come under fire by a Nairobi parliamentary committee for not having printed money at Malta's De La Rue factory: an option that would have saved them "billions" in Kenyan shillings.

In a report prepared by Nairobi's parliamentary accounts committee, chairman Boni Khalwale and MP Abdi Nur Nassir accused the national government of having made Kenyan taxpayers lose "billions in an exploitative and suspicious money-printing contract" through single sourcing.

Although the Kenyan government had the option of getting its currencies printed far cheaper in Malta, it chose to give the order to the Ruaraka-based De La Rue.

According to the committee, it did so ostensibly to protect 260 Kenyans who would have been rendered jobless if the high-security printing firm did not get this lifeline - albeit at a crushing cost to taxpayers.

Details emerged how the Kenyan taxpayer was paying more to sustain printing of currency way above market rates when a parliamentary committee probed the tendering for printing of local currency.

Central Bank of Kenya Governor Njuguna Ndung'u admitted on Thursday to approving six interim orders for new currencies, which were  costlier than the quotation submitted by Malta's De La Rue factory in open international tender, which got cancelled in 2006.

Ndung'u tried to justify the additional cost to the taxpayer, saying it saved jobs at De La Rue, which would have been lost if production was done abroad.

But the parliamentary committee questioned the rationale of paying the additional money to De La Rue - nearly three times more than competitive international market rates.

The international open tender returned a quotation of €32.5 million for the production of 1.7 billion pieces in Malta.

The MPs said the concern over the 260 jobs was a "cover-up" for the plunder of public coffers by well-connected individuals.

PAC chairman Boni Khalwale explained the jobs were secure because De La Rue is involved in other ventures - such as printing security instruments for banks - which would not be affected if the money-printing offer were subjected to competitive bidding.

"You cannot hide behind jobs to justify the fleecing of taxpayers," Khalwale said during the committee hearing.