NAIROBI: The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) will roll out the controversial Sh1.2 billion customs system early next year after it won a court case challenging it in Nairobi. In a judgement delivered on Tuesday, the High Court sitting in Nairobi dismissed a suit challenging the award of a tender for the development of a new Customs Management System (iCMS), which is meant to modernise customs processes. KRA Commissioner General John Njiraini yesterday said the system would allow it greater surveillance of custom taxes as he celebrated the legal victory saying the court system had vindicated their procurement process.
“This is the second consecutive win and we are now ready to roll it out from early January next year,” he said. The taxman says planning for the key project financed by Trademark East Africa (TMEA) commenced in 2013 but the suit has hampered implementation.
“The system will also provide customs with a more versatile capability to address core tax collection challenges, especially those touching on undervaluation,” KRA said in a statement yesterday. The Petitioner, Webb Fontaine Group PLC, challenged the tender award on the basis that proper procedures were not followed given TMEA’s role in facilitating selection of the winning bidder.
TMEA as the financier had required the procurement to be undertaken using their procedures, a practice that is supported by the Public Procurement Act. The Act requires that for a private entity to conduct a tendering or procurement process for a public entity, the public institution has to transfer such a mandate to the private entity in agreement form. In its ruling, the High Court presided over by Justice Odunga held that the application by Swiss firm Webb Fontaine Group PLC was without merit and dismissed it with costs. Webb Fontaine Group PLC had earlier taken the matter to the Public Procurement and Administrative Review Board (PPARB) where their request was also dismissed.
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