The CEO is among a cabal of
influential figures behind theft of billions of shillings belonging to
taxpayers though of late he is said to be having serious financial problems.
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| Mr. Mike Macharia CEO Seven Seas Technologies Limited. |
By Correspondent
Two Cabinet Secretaries are likely
to face the chop and prosecution in the coming days as the war on corruption
intensifies. Highly placed sources revealed to The Weekly Vision that Transport
Cabinet Secretary James Macharia and his National Treasury counterpart Henry
Rotich are on the radar of the Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji for
abetting corruption.
For Macharia, his involvement with
the shadowy company, Seven Seas Technologies
which he awarded a Sh4.7 billion tender to digitize Kenya’s healthcare system
has come back to haunt him. The Transport CS was then heading the Health
docket. The Transport CS is suspected to have benefited from kickbacks
channeled to him by Mr. Mike Macharia, the founder and Chief Executive of Seven
Seas Technologies Limited.
The CEO is among a cabal of
influential figures behind theft of billions of shillings belonging to
taxpayers though of late he is said to be having serious financial problems.
The
Seven Seas Technologies, which is
also on the radar of the DPP, was among companies that were used by the
politically correct to strike lucrative deals with the government.
The directors of the shadowy company
were closely associated with former President Mwai Kibaki but using the
Transport CS they have now regrouped.
The Seven Seas Technologies
directors are former Solicitor General Wanjuki Muchemi as Executive Chairman;
Mike Macharia, the founder and CEO of Seven Seas Technologies (SST) Group; June
Gachui, an advocate of the High Court; Fredd Kambo, previously a Principal at
46 Parallels, a pan-African private investment fund specializing in equity
linked credit. J.P. Morgan.
But with such a rich portfolio, the
directors are unable to kick start the project at KNH leaving patients to
continue to suffer at the top referral hospital almost a year after the firm
bagged the tender to connect a central data Centre.
Seven Seas Technologies was awarded
the Sh4.7 billion tender to connect all medical facilities above Level 4 in
September last year and was expected to have finalised in 90 days. The
KNH project was a pilot.
The Healthcare Information
Technology (HCIT) is part of the Medical Equipment Services flagship projects
undertaken by the Jubilee government to ensure delivery of quality healthcare.
According to insiders, the
anti-graft sleuths are digging in to establish the relation between Mike Macharia
and CS Macharia. It is suspected that the CS played a significant role in
influencing supply tender.
But the trouble at Seven Seas
Technologies started when James Gachui, a shrewd businessman who passed on in
2010 was invited to be board chairman but seems to have declined the
offer.
His daughter June however joined the
board as director but it is not clear whether she represented her billionaire
father.
Those who know the late Gachui say
he had in his own right reworked the dictum to suit his entrepreneurship mien,
strongly believing instead that good money had to make better money.
Gachui’s large footprint in the
world of business was such that it has been hard to get a proper estimate of
his worth at the time of passing on in 2010. The businessman had a significant
presence in key sectors of the economy – including the consumer market,
finance, ICT, energy, and manufacturing.
That list includes East African
Cables Limited, the Wananchi Group, Genghis Capital, Enablis, Chase Bank and
Galana Oils – the petroleum marketing outfit he founded immediately he parted
ways with his last employer, Total Kenya.
Seven Seas Technologies was recently
a subject of an inquiry by the Parliamentary health committee over the delayed
implementation of the project awarded by the Ministry of Health originally
scheduled for completion early this year.
The project entailed the
establishment of a data centre at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) linked to 97
other county and sub-county referral health facilities, the National Hospital
and Insurance Fund (NHIF) and the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority
(KEMSA).
The delay of 10 months after the
tender was awarded prompted a parliamentary inquiry.
There ministry had committed to give
a letter of comfort to the supplier who claims they shipped the equipment but
have not received the letter of comfort and thus they do not have the capacity
to bring the equipment,” said Sabina Chege, chairperson of the Parliamentary
committee on health.
The committee held discussions with
senior management of Seven Seas Technologies and made a visit to KNH to assess
the progress of the project revealing the disconnect between government
agencies that led to multiple tendering of the same project.
But Seven Seas Technologies keeps on
insisting that the project implementation is still on track and due for
completion in June 2019 but they have done zero work at the ground.
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