Garissa Governor Nathif Jama and six other former county procurement committee officials were on Tuesday arraigned in court to answer charges of abuse of office and irregular leasing of county ambulances from Kenya Red Cross.
"Being a public officer, Jama used his constitutional office to improperly confer benefits to the Kenya Red Cross E-plus by negotiating and executing an inflated contract valued at Sh62 400 000 for the provision of ambulance emergency services in Garissa County without following due procedures as stated in section 7(c) of Public Procurement Act,” read the charges.
The other six former procurement committee members Mr Abdi Sahal Ali, Mohamed Hassan, Sofia Ahmed, Mohamed Hassan Mohamed, Jawahir Hassan and Rahma Dekow also face charges of failure to act in accordance with procurement laws.
Lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi who stood on behalf of Jama dismissed the charges, trashing them as political witch-hunt and said that his client would finally emerge victorious in the end.
Abdullahi called on Jama’s ardent supporters to stay calm as the charges will never inconvenience his political future.
The seven county officials denied the charges and the judge released them on a cash bail of Sh500 000 each.
The case will be heard next on September 12 and 13 this year.