Omtatah sues State on number plates deal

Activist Okiya Omtatah has sued the prisons department over a tender to produce new number plates.

Mr Omtatah argues that it will lead to loss of taxpayers’ money because there is machinery for the production of the number plates, that is lying idle at Kamiti Prison.

The respondents in the suit filed at the High Court last week are Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, The Principal Secretary for Correctional Services, the Commissioner General, Kenya Prisons, the National Treasury and the Attorney General.

Mr Omtatah faults the government for undertaking an “unreasonable , wasteful and secretive restricted tender”, saying it makes no sense to abandon the existing machinery.

He adds that between 2013 and 2015, the government spent more than one billion shillings acquiring, commissioning and test running the fully serviceable equipment lying idle at Kamiti Prison.

He says the new machines are likely to end up a white elephant.

“Based on publicly available data, an entry level automated blank number plate production plant would be required to produce over 800,000 blank number plates per month to break even. It is public knowledge that the annual vehicle registration in Kenya does not exceed 400,000 units. That being the case, it is not commercially viable to acquire a complete production plant,” he avers in court papers. 

The respondents in the suit are the Cabinet Secretary Ministry of Interior and Co-Ordination of National Government, The Principal Secretary for Correctional Services, the Commissioner General, Kenya Prisons as well as the National Treasury and the Attorney General. 

Backstory 

In 2013, the government started the process of upgrading the number plate production equipment with the aim of introducing new generation number plates in the country. 

Subsequently, a tender for supply, delivery, installation, testing, training and commissioning of modern number plate production machines was floated.

The tender worth hundreds of millions of shillings was awarded to Tropical Technology Ltd and a contract signed on April 4, 2014. 

The requisitioned equipment -- two embossing machines, embossing tools, two hot-stamping machines and one pneumatic press machine -- were delivered, installed, tested and after prisons personnel were trained, they were commissioned at Kamiti Prison.

Two years later in 2015, towards the roll out of the new generation number plates, the Ministry initiated another process by way of international tender to purchase the required materials for use with the machines.

After protracted court battles, the multi-million shilling tender was eventually awarded to Tropical Technologies Ltd, and a three-year contract on the same signed.

Over time, the fully serviceable machines lying idle at Kamiti Prison have been inspected by various government officials including President Uhuru Kenyatta in February 2017. 

In March 2019, the parliamentary committee on security also made a similar visit.

After the machines were commissioned, the trained prisons staff test produced 10,000 new generation number plates which are currently in use by Kenyan motor vehicles, trailers and motorcycles.

Change of guard

“Recently, it emerged that, following the change of guard in the Ministry of Interior, the new sheriffs in town had without reason secretly abandoned the ready to roll out project cited above, and had floated a restricted Tender No. SDC/50/2019-2020. The restricted tender seeks to acquire a complete production plant for making the number plate,” notes Mr Omtatah in suit papers.

He argues that the practice in all African countries is to import blank number plates with all the requisite security features, and then emboss them locally before issuance to the public. 

“The simple reason is that most countries, even in Europe do not have the required volumes to warrant a complete production plant,” he concludes. 

Despite having complained through a letter to the Ministry about the duplicity of the tenders, Mr Omtatah alleges that while presiding over the 44th passing-out-parade of prisons recruits at the Prisons Staff Training College in Thika, Mr Kenyatta lauded the Ministry for establishing the new plant, a move in which “respondents mischievously used the unsuspecting president to send a coded message to the petitioner that the scam was unstoppable.”

Justice James Makau certified the case as urgent on August 27 and directed all parties in the suit to appear in court on September 8, 2020 for mention.