- Auditor-General’s reports covering the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years found that the university could not produce supporting documents for contract variations amounting to KSh180.1 million
- Certified payments on the project have since climbed from KSh663.9 millionto KSh844.1 million
MPs have ordered a fresh hearing into a KSh844 million students’ hostel project at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology (JOOUST), after auditors flagged unsupported contract variations, unexplained payments and missing completion records tied to the development.
The order came as former Vice-Chancellor Prof Stephen Gaya Agong appeared before the National Assembly’s Public Investments Committee on Governance and Education to account for payments made during his tenure at the helm of the university.
Prof Agong told MPs the university had paid “close to KSh600 million” toward the project, and maintained that the final payment certificate he signed reflected only KSh4.8 million.
That account did not sit well with Committee Chairperson Dick Maungu, who pointed to Certificate Number Five, dated June 9, 2023, just ten days before Prof Agong’s exit, showing cumulative certified payments of roughly KSh844 million.
“You exited the university on June 19, 2023, and before you left, Certificate Number Five had already been prepared, showing KSh844 million. Meaning all this happened within your tenure,” Maungu told the former Vice-Chancellor.
The 1,000-bed hostel was originally awarded to Sasah General Merchants in February 2010, under a contract sum of KSh663.9 million, with completion projected within three years. Certified payments on the project have since climbed to KSh844.1 million, the Committee heard.
Auditor-General’s reports covering the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years found that the university could not produce supporting documents for contract variations amounting to KSh180.1 million. The reports further noted that completion and handover certificates were missing at the time of the audit, even though students had already moved into the hostel.
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CPA Kennedy Ongoi, representing the Auditor-General’s Kisumu Regional Office, cautioned that the unresolved dispute could expose public funds to further losses if it ends up in court. “Where a contractor takes a public institution to court demanding payment, the institution risks paying legal fees and penalties. These are avoidable expenses if projects are managed prudently,” Ongoi told the Committee.
Pressed on a separate KSh79.6 million entry classified in the accounts as “fluctuations,” Prof Agong denied ever approving it, saying the figure did not form part of the final accounts he signed off on. He suggested some of the disputed expenditure could be linked to maintenance work carried out after students occupied the hostel, including repairs following a fire.
Maungu was not satisfied with the explanation, telling Prof Agong the Committee needed clarity on the legal footing for the payment. “There is something unique called fluctuations amounting to KSh79.6 million. We need to understand where this falls under procurement law because fluctuations and variations are different,” he said.
The Committee directed that he be furnished with all project documents ahead of the next hearing, when he is expected to return to answer further questions on the payment discrepancies.
By Masaki Enock
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