Photos: A Look into the SGR Contract declared illegal by Court of Appeal
Uhuru Kenyatta flags off SGR train
The Court of Appeal yesterday declared the entire Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) contract illegal. This, the judge argued was because the Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC), the firm that floated the tender failed to comply with Procurement Laws, especially, the provisions of a section of the Public Procurement and Disposal Act, 2005.
“We substitute therefore an order declaring that Kenya Railways Corporation, as the procuring entity, failed to comply with, and violated provisions of Article 227 (1) of the Constitution and Sections 6 (1) and 29, of the Public Procurement and Disposal Act, 59 2005 in the procurement of the SGR project. The appeals succeed to that extent only,” the ruling reads.
The case had been filed by activist Okiya Omtatah and Wycliffe Gisebe Nyakina. The duo argued that there was no due diligence or independent feasibility conducted and that the design of the project was undertaken before seeking contractors to implement it. Further they submitted that there was a conflict of interest in awarding the contract to China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), which had been blacklisted by The World Bank Group.
“….that in any event CRBC was ineligible for the award of the contract as it had been blacklisted by the World Bank for engaging in corruption in a road project in the Philippines,” court papers read.
KRC tried ti defend itself flimsily that they were ‘forced’ to give CRBC the contract because the loan was coming from their country – China.
Justices Martha Koome, Gatembu Kairu and Jamila Mohamed saw through the lies and ruled that that was not the case.
“This is because as indicated above, the contract with CRBC as the contractor was procured long before the financing agreement was entered into. The holding by the learned Judge to the contrary, is with respect, not supported by the facts as set out above,” the ruling reads.
Uhuru Kenyatta flags off SGR train
The Court of Appeal yesterday declared the entire Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) contract illegal. This, the judge argued was because the Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC), the firm that floated the tender failed to comply with Procurement Laws, especially, the provisions of a section of the Public Procurement and Disposal Act, 2005.
“We substitute therefore an order declaring that Kenya Railways Corporation, as the procuring entity, failed to comply with, and violated provisions of Article 227 (1) of the Constitution and Sections 6 (1) and 29, of the Public Procurement and Disposal Act, 59 2005 in the procurement of the SGR project. The appeals succeed to that extent only,” the ruling reads.
The case had been filed by activist Okiya Omtatah and Wycliffe Gisebe Nyakina. The duo argued that there was no due diligence or independent feasibility conducted and that the design of the project was undertaken before seeking contractors to implement it. Further they submitted that there was a conflict of interest in awarding the contract to China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), which had been blacklisted by The World Bank Group.
“….that in any event CRBC was ineligible for the award of the contract as it had been blacklisted by the World Bank for engaging in corruption in a road project in the Philippines,” court papers read.
KRC tried ti defend itself flimsily that they were ‘forced’ to give CRBC the contract because the loan was coming from their country – China.
Justices Martha Koome, Gatembu Kairu and Jamila Mohamed saw through the lies and ruled that that was not the case.
“This is because as indicated above, the contract with CRBC as the contractor was procured long before the financing agreement was entered into. The holding by the learned Judge to the contrary, is with respect, not supported by the facts as set out above,” the ruling reads.