Nairobi hospital company secretary Gilbert Nyamweya testifying at Milimani law courts, Nairobi on June 18 /LEAH MUKANGAI A prosecution witness in the case against political analyst Herman Manyora has told a Nairobi court that he could not point to any evidence showing the accused influenced the outcome of a Nairobi Hospital tender process.
Gilbert Nyamweha, who testified before magistrate Peter Mutai on Thursday, maintained during cross-examination that, to the best of his knowledge, the procurement process for the hospital project was conducted properly and that the eventual award followed the institution’s established procedures.
His testimony came shortly after the court declined an application by the prosecution seeking to exclude the media from the proceedings.
The prosecution had requested the court to bar media coverage on the grounds that the witness may not be comfortable testifying in open court.
However, Senior Principal magistrate Mutai rejected the application, saying witness discomfort alone was not sufficient reason to bar media coverage.
"Trials should always conducted in camera. It's not enough to say a witness may not be comfortable. I find no good reasons to exclude media," he ruled.
After the ruling, Nyamweha took the stand and outlined how the matter was brought to the attention of the hospital.
He told the court that he received a complaint from Josephine Luceno concerning alleged solicitation of money linked to engagement on a hospital construction project.
According to the witness, Luceno had participated in the tender process, emerged successful and was eventually awarded the contract.
Nyamweha said Luceno later submitted supporting documents including bank details, screenshots of messages allegedly exchanged with the accused, Mpesa transaction records and company documents related to Talon Africa Limited.
The witness testified that after receiving the complaint and accompanying documents, he brought the matter to the attention of the accused and requested clarification.
"After receiving complaint and annexed documents, I did bring the report to attention of the accused (Manyora), requested him to clarify but he did not respond," he submitted.
He said he escalated the issue to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) through a formal letter raising concerns of potential criminal culpability.
Asked whether he had any form of communication with the accused, the witness said he had sent an internal memo.
Pressed further on whether the memo had been produced before court as an exhibit, he replied that it had not.
“I didn’t need to. I didn’t write a statement on this," he said.
Nyamweha also explained Nairobi Hospital’s procurement process.
He said that tenders undergo preliminary, technical and financial evaluation before recommendations are escalated through committees and ultimately approved by the board.
He testified that for the tender in question, evaluation committees had recommended awarding the contract for the proposed radiology extension project and that the process moved through the institution’s structures.
During cross-examination, Nyamweha clarified that he did not sit in any of the procurement committees involved in evaluating bids and only participated at the board committee level as secretariat to the infrastructure projects committee.
The witness testified that Manyora, at the time, was the chair of the Infrastructure Projects Management Committee.
Asked directly by the defence on whether he could point to any influence by Manyora on the tender outcome, Nyamweha replied: “No."
Nyamweha also came under cross-examination on whether the complaint amounted to a targeted personal attack against the accused.
He stated that he could not tell if the allegations were personally motivated and declined to characterise the relationship between the complainant and Manyora beyond what was contained in documents before him.
The witness was also pressed during cross-examination on whether any conflict of interest had been declared during the procurement process,
"The directors are required to act in best interest of company. Participants are to declare if there is any conflict of interest, no one did at the time," he said.
He also testified that the matter was initially subjected to a preliminary internal review, but no formal investigative report was produced from that exercise.
He further stated that the tender was awarded on merit based on available documentation.
Manyora faces charges of cheating contrary to Section 315 of the Penal Code and is accused of obtaining Sh516,000 through alleged fraudulent means connected to the Nairobi Hospital tender.
He denied the charges.
