- Kenyan High Court bars Kenya Power
- Suspends tender process
- Petitioner claims Kenya Power altered the territorial limit requirement iin the second tender
A High Court in Kenya has barred Kenya Power from procuring insurance brokerage services following a petition filed by right’s activist Okiya Omatatah. In his petition Omatatah stated that, Kenya Power cancelled its initial tender and altered some requirements including, the ”territorial limit within Kenya” requirement for interested bidders. In his ruling, Judge James Makau temporarily suspended the prequalification process for the tender.
Kenya Power had on July 20th altered the eligibility requirements on its initial tender which was advertised on June 8th. In the subsequent tender document, the new conditions demand a minimum professional indemnity cover of KSh1 billion for eligible bidders an alteration to the initial KSh200 million. Kenya Power also altered the territorial limit within Kenya to allow international bidders.
“The requirement for a professional indemnity cover of minimum limit KSh1 billion is unreasonable and oppressive because even the Insurance Regulatory Authority itself requires a Professional Indemnity Insurance Policy with a minimum limit of KSh10 million,” Omatah said.
On the removal of the territorial limit, Omatah said “The disputed requirements will knock most local businesses out of the market, leaving it for multinationals to dominate. The decision to deny local insurance brokers a chance to earn a livelihood militates against their economic and social rights under Article 43 of the Constitution,”
The case will be mentioned on September 22.