This archive report was first published on 19 June 2020.
On June 19, 2020, the Court of Appeal made a landmark ruling that declared the entire Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) contract illegal.
The three-judge bench, comprising Justices Martha Koome (presiding), Gatembu Kairu, and Jamila Mohammed, ruled that Kenya Railways failed to comply with procurement laws.
According to the ruling, the procurement of the SGR project was exempt from the Public Procurement and Disposal Act, 2005, under Section 6(1), which was a key point of contention in the case.
Activist Okiya Omtatah, who filed the case, argued that the project did not offer value for money and that the project's cost was inflated. He claimed that the project's design and supervision of the construction services, amounting to $110 million (approximately Sh11 billion), were duplicated, resulting in a loss to the public.
The State, however, disputed these claims, arguing that there was no basis for the allegations and that the project was of benefit to Kenyans.
During a court hearing in January 2020, China Road and Bridges corporation, through lawyer Kiragu Kimani, argued that the case was inconsequential as the SGR was already operational, having carried two million passengers and an average of 30 freight and four passenger trains since 2017.
Omtatah, who had moved to the Court of Appeal with support from the Law Society of Kenya after losing in the high court, faulted the state for single sourcing for the project and for not involving Parliament in the approval process, as well as for zero public participation in the project.
The Attorney General, the Public Procurement Oversight Authority (PPOA), and Kenya Railways (KR) argued that the project was not conducted under the procurement Act because it was a government-to-government loan.
