Where is the KNS Jasiri?
December 16, 2008
Written by kenyanobserver, in Featured, KENYA
As I was stitching the Kenya Navy article together, I bounced upon some intriguing pictures of the infamous Kenya Navy warship, the KNS Jasiri. The ship has been docked at a port in Spain for years and in fact as late as last week, local residents were still wondering what it’s purpose was and what it was doing gathering rust at their port.
There is also a sign on the ship that says visitors are not allowed on board to tour the ship. I guess when a boat or ship is anchored for this long at one spot, it makes sense to open it up for tours.
Not sure how much the Kenyan government spent on this deal before backing out or chickening out, but here we are, another waste of taxpayers’ money for all to see.
Here is an excerpt from the Mars group that sets up the background for this best;
Euromarine Industries was contracted on July 17, 2003, for the Oceangraphic survey vessel programme. It was to specifically provide a naval ship. The contractual sum was Sh4.l billion. The company has since taken the government to an international arbitration court in France for failure to pay for the vessel.
Interestingly, members of the Parliamentary Defence and Foreign Relations Committee visited Spain on September 26 to see KNS Jasiri, the controversial navy vessel at the centre of much speculation.
The committee comprised former senior military officers – Major-General (rtd) Joseph Nkaissery who is the Kajiado Central member of parliament (MP), and Major (rtd) Marsden Madoka, also Mwatate MP.
Other committee members in attendance were Captain Davis Nakitare (Saboti MP) and Mr GG Kariuki (Laikipia West MP).
They were accompanied by a parliamentary clerk and Lt. Col. Kituku who had previously been stationed at the shipyard to oversee the construction of the vessel on behalf of the Navy.
Nominated MP Ms Njoki Ndungu and Shinyalu MP Mr Daniel Khamasi who were detailed for the trip failed to turn up because of commitments elsewhere in Europe.
Through impeccable sources, The Standard has learnt that the committee met with Euromarine’s managing director, Mr Salvador Surroca and were given a full presentation and tour of the 85 metre vessel.
It is understood that the committee was shown details of the tender submitted to the Department of Defence.
Up until now, no details of the procurement of the vessel have been made public as the Department of Defence remained tight lipped over the modality in which the contract was awarded.
It emerged that the procurement was by way of tender where the Navy’s own specifications were sent to eight European shipbuilders requesting their quotations. It has been confirmed that Euromarine was awarded the contract because it was the lowest bidder.
A member of the tender committee at the time has confirmed that all procedures were correctly followed and he was not sure why the military had kept quiet about the project. The MPs are the only politicians to haveseen the vessel first.
In the aftermath of the Githongo graft report it had previously been reported that the vessel did not actually exist and later that it was a fishing vessel that had been converted to a naval ship.
After a thorough inspection of the vessel and its plans and drawings, a member of the committee is quoted as saying,
“There is no doubt that this is a military vessel of the highest order. We cannot understand why matters have been allowed to reach the stage they are at now. The vessel has our name and our shield on it, but it is not ours. There are some important questions that need to be answered.”
The committee also expressed shock at learning that the vessel had been ready for delivery for more than a year.
They were also shocked by the fact that the matter was now the subject of an international arbitration where full military specifications of the vessel will be open to the public.
It would be interesting to see the Government’s position on the vessel after the visit by the committee.
I came across the pictures of the controversial warship on a Spanish photo forum simply known as – fotos de barcos ( photos of boats).
A lot of visitors on the forum are quite curious about and impressed by the ship which they have seen anchored at the port of Ribadeo, Spain for years. Ribadeo is approximately 450 km northwest of Spain’s capital, Madrid and is almost as far north as you can get in Spain.
One comment, I thought, was quite poignant to the situation with this ship;
Es todo muy raro, ¿no? Todo (su aspecto, las plataformas para armamaneto que apuntaba Señalero) apunta a que es un buque de guerra. Y sin embargo, en la información de Equasis aparace como “research vessel”, o sea barco de investigación.
Me recuerda al barco ucraniano MV Faina que hace un par de meses fue secuestrado frente a Somalia (¿sigue secuestrado?), que resulta que llevaba tanques y otras armas. Kenia dijo que eran para ellos, pero los americanos dijeron que eran para la región de Sudán sur, rebelde frente a su gobierno central.
English translation:
It’s all very weird, huh? Everything (it looks, the platforms for armamanents aimed Señalero) suggests that it is a warship. And yet, on information from Equasis aparace as “research vessel”, or research vessel.
It reminds me of the Ukrainian ship MV Faina that a couple of months ago he was abducted in front of Somalia (you still kidnapped?), Which is carrying tanks and other weapons. Kenya said it was for them, but the Americans said they were for the region of southern Sudan, rebel against its central government.
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APRIL 22, 2009: THERE IS AN UPDATE TO THIS STORY
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I think sometimes we are being treated to a lot of nonesense. The ship is military. It was to be armed in Kenya. To say that what is shown on the pix above is junk is totally misleading. Lets have facts before we start splashing all kinds of rumours around. Now, the ship has been certified by Parliamentary Defence and Foreign Relations Committee to be military, the contactor is siting with our money and our ship, who is losing? May be some of these activists are used by competitors in some cases, well, I still appreciate their whistle blowing but lets get facts right.