Economy
Okiya Omtatah loses suit to block motor vehicle leasing policy
Friday January 26 2024
Senator Okiya Omtatah at a past court hearing. FILE PHOTO | NMG
The High Court has endorsed a 2021 government policy centralising the procurement of leased motor vehicles by public bodies at the Treasury.
Dismissing a petition by Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah, High Court judge Lawrence Mugambi said the circular issued on June 26, 2021, was an amplification of what was already in law and policy (consortium procurement).
The judge said there was no need for public participation before the circular was issued by the Head of Public Service directing ministries, departments and agencies running leasing programmes to immediately register them with the Treasury to be managed centrally.
Also read: Omtatah sues to block MPs Sh4.4bn cover
“Central leasing is already incorporated in the Procurement and Asset Disposal Act 2015 and is described as consortium buying, a scheme where procurement entities can come together and procure jointly to benefit from economies of scale,” said the judge.
Justice Mugambi added that all that the circular did was to give guidance concerning that particular procurement item, but the rules did not change.
“It was not against the existing legal provisions nor was it usurpation of the roles of respective accounting officers. It did not contravene the existing statutory provisions. In my view, the circular was executive in nature and meant to guide the application of the prevailing policy,” the judge said, adding that the circular could thus not be considered a statutory instrument as argued by Mr Omtatah.
The senator had argued that policy centralising the leasing and procurement of leased motor vehicles by public bodies was invalid, as there was no public participation.
He added that the circular was made in bad faith and in contravention of the constitutional precepts of transparency, competitiveness and cost-effectiveness.
According to Mr Omtatah, the Head of Public Service has no capacity in law to unilaterally centralise the leasing programme.
It was his argument that the move would allow Treasury CS to usurp the responsibilities of specific procurement offices in the ministries, yet they have their own internal procurement systems.
The Attorney General defended the decision arguing that the government made the move to achieve value for money and that the allegation of usurping the role of accounting officers was unfounded and baseless.
The court heard that the argument by Mr Omtatah only aimed at trivializing the role of government in safeguarding public resources.
Also read: KPA loses bid to halt port grains facility tender suit
“The attainment of the objectives can only be realized if the government aggregates common user requirements that make economic sense for service providers and investors to deploy their resources that shall guarantee favourable returns on their investments,” the Attorney General submitted.
