A prosecution witness who testified to a case pitting the Garissa County Governor Nathif Jama has said the irregular leasing of ambulances from the Kenya Red Cross in 2016 was necessitated by the dire needs of county residents.
Mohamed Aden Bare, who is the former head of county procurement, was testifying in a court case where Jama and his six other accomplices in the former Tender Committee are facing charges for misappropriating county resources.
Bare testified to the Garissa chief magistrate Maundu Cosmas that the members of the procurement committee had discussed and resolved to effect the tender after in-depth deliberation, following a documented request by the Health department. Maundu further said a baseline survey had previously been carried out by the relevant Health department that revealed there was high mortality rates in the county and so was the need of ambulances to address the situation.
Bare, who is the first prosecution witness, also disclosed St John Ambulances and the Red Cross issued a quotation of Sh550,000 and Sh600,000 respectively, during the vetting and evaluation process, but they opted for the Kenya R Cross as it would service its ambulances and also assign two paramedic officers to each ambulance.
The case will continue on Thursday this week.