Contracts –Supreme Court judges sitting in Nairobi have today trashed the ruling which was made at the Appellate Court on Standard Gauge Railways SGR procurement irregularities.
On Friday June 16 noon, the Apex Court led by Martha Koome cleared Uhuru Kenyatta’s government of any wrong doing in the procurement procedures surrounding the multibillion SGR contracts.
In the Appeal ruling, it had been established that obvious procurement laws had been flouted in the sh 500 billion Standard Gauge Metre Railway (SGR) deal between Kenya and the Chinese government.
And today, 5 judges – Deputy Chief Justice, Philomena Mwilu and justices, Mohamed Ibrahim, Smokin Wanjala, Njoki Ndung’u, and Wiliam Ouko – cleared the Uhuru’s government stating that the procurement process clear as provided in Article 227 of the Constitution.
The judges added that the procurement was also undertaken under the basis of a government-to-government contract and hence exempt from the provisions of the normal Public Procurement Disposal Act, 2005.
“In addition, the SGR project was subject to interrogation before Parliament in two committees, and none of the respondents opted to be involved. The said parliamentary process, which is open to the public, cleared the projects. Under our constitutional design, the people have the power to exercise their oversight power through elected representatives who are domiciled in Parliament. Whether a citizen agrees with or was satisfied with what was undertaken is a matter of conjecture, provided that the laid-out procedure was followed,” stated the ruling.
The Court, therefore, disregarded any previous rulings saying every stage was done above board and within the law.
In the multi-billion SGR deal, the late President Mwai Kibaki initiated the project under their Grand Coalition government; with contracts approved later by President (Rtd) Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration.
The petition to challenge the procurement exercise was filed by Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah.
