The High Court has dismissed a case filed by Busia Senator Okiya Okoiti Omtata against the tender for the smart number plates launched by the Ministry of Transport & Infrastructure in August 2022. Senator Omtata had moved to the High Court challenging the use of Direct Procurement method of procurement in the process. The said controversial tender was awarded to a company by the name Chalbi Industries Limited.
Justice Lawrence Mugambi in dismissing the case stated that the use of Direct Procurement is not a basis of terming that the process was irregular. The use of Direct Procurement as a procurement method is provided under the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015. He stated that as long as the Direct Procurement method used followed the laid out procedure and was conducted in good faith, then its mere use does not in any make an inference to say that the whole process was irregular and not conducted in line with the law.
He stated that the Petitioner (Senator Omtata) had not proved to the Court that the Direct Procurement method was used so as to avoid competition and as such, the Court could not infere bad faith.
The Senator had on 19th September 2022 threatened to sue NTSA over the tendering process for the rollout of the smart number plates which he terms as ‘suspect’. The senator has claimed that he was in possession of a memo dated 6th September 2022 from the director of registration and licensing to the director general, asking him to give an order for direct procurement. Mr. Omtatah’s primary concern is if the government had already launched samples of the number plates, what was the need for the procurement?
Launch of Smart Number Plates
In August 2022, the then Interior Cabinet Secretary rolled out the new generation number plates. The smart number plates were said to be linked to the vehicle chassis number with several inbuilt security features that are easily identifiable to law enforcement and comply with international standards. This move was aimed at enhancing security by disabling the element of duplication of number plates where vehicles with duplicates are used to commit crimes and even used in terror acts. The number plates were officially rolled out in October 2022.
The launch of the Smart number plates was a move to comply with the Traffic Act 2016 and had faced various hurdles. In 2022, Nakuru-based lawyer Peter Okiro moved to the High Court challenging the decision to have already registered vehicles compelled to get the new number plates. He argued that the said directive was issued without public participation as is required by the Constitution.
The Petitioner, Mr. Peter Okiro in his petition sued the Ministry of Interior & National Administration, the Ministry of Transport & Infrastructure, and The Honorable Attorney General, The National Transport & Safety Authority (NTSA) and the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) had been enjoined as interested parties. The petitioner prayed that the Court finds the directive to be unconstitutional and consequently quash the directive.
It is important to note that on 9th September 2020, High Court Judge Justice James Makau temporarily suspended the government’s plan to establish a production facility for motor vehicle digital registration number plates following a case filed by activist Okiya Omtatah. The Activist had claimed that the procurement process undertaken by the Kenya Prisons Services had violated the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, of 2015, and would lead to loss of taxpayers’ money.
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