Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore (left) and Kenya Alliance of Resident Association chair Richard Nyaga inspect a walkie talkie that will be used to offer surveillance during a forum on security at the Sarova Stanley Hotel July 24. Photo/Jennifer Muiruri
What you need to know:
The Administration and National Security committee on Thursday said it had come to the conclusion that the proposed communication and surveillance system “would greatly help security agencies face up to the rising wave of security challenges in the country.”
Parliament has cleared the multi-billion-shilling security surveillance contract that the government awarded telecoms operator Safaricom, removing a major hurdle from its path.
The parliamentary committee that investigated the award of the Sh14.9 billion integrated security surveillance tender to the telecoms firm on Thursday said it had not found any irregularities in the deal.
Instead, the Administration and National Security committee said it had come to the conclusion that the proposed communication and surveillance system “would greatly help security agencies face up to the rising wave of security challenges in the country.”
The committee, which had stopped the Interior ministry from signing the tender contract with Safaricom, ruled out any mischief in the choice of Safaricom concluding that East Africa’s largest telecoms firm has the requisite financial capability and experience in the field of telecommunication networks and infrastructure building.
The committee, chaired by Tiaty MP Asman Kamama, said that whereas Article 227 of the Constitution requires State entities contracting for goods and services to do so in a system that is fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost effective, the team had considered Section 74 of the Public Procurement and Disposal Act, which allows direct procurement subject to the procuring entity meeting certain conditions.
“The urgency and the need to sort out insecurity challenges were such that the other methods of procurement, save for direct procurement, would have been impractical,” the committee says in a report tabled in the House last evening.
A section of MPs had raised concern over the method of procuring the multi-billion-shilling contract through direct procurement as opposed to competitive or restricted tendering. Questions were also raised over the project cost.
“The committee noted that the country is facing multiple challenges never witnessed before that threatens to compromise national security,” the report says, citing last September’s deadly terrorist attack on Westgate shopping mall and sporadic attacks at the Coast.
The MPs said they did not find anything wrong with the ministry procuring the contract directly, adding security of citizens and the country “should never be compromised or negotiated.”
“Given the facts, the committee did not find any ulterior motive on the choice of Safaricom to implement the project,” the report says.
The parliamentarians said they were also satisfied that due diligence was done and that the procurement process was above board and all the necessary stakeholders consulted.
“The committee recommends that the House approves the tender award and a contract signed with Safaricom for the provision of a national surveillance, communication, command and control system for the National Police Service.”
Though the initial contract with Safaricom is specific to Nairobi and Mombasa, the committee wants it expanded to cover the whole country.
Mr Kamama said the committee had investigated the contract to establish whether the threshold for direct procurement as provided for in the procurement law had been met and whether the contract is value for money to the taxpayers.
The committee received presentations from the Interior ministry, Treasury, National Intelligence Service, CCK, Public Procurement Oversight Authority, Safaricom officials and independent security experts during the probe.
Parliament’s report also acknowledges on-going court battle between telecoms sector regulator CAK and Tetra Radio Limited, which claims to have been awarded the contract.
“It came to the attention of the committee that the Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) has an ongoing court case with Tetra Radio Limited, a company that won a license to provide a communication system for police service in 2002. The contract was cancelled leading to an ongoing court process,” the report says.
CAK cancelled Tetra Radio’s contract in 1998 citing the company’s failure to meet terms of the agreement. Tetra then moved to court and secured orders granting it exclusive use of the frequency range 370-470 MHz for the provision of a communication system for the police. CAK has appealed the ruling.
Legal experts however warned that Safaricom may not be out of the woods yet with the contract pointing to Tetra Radio’s expression of intention to go to court for an order stopping the deal.
Safaricom won the contract under a build operate and transfer agreement, meaning the telecoms firm will ultimately hand over the network to the National Police Service after operating it on behalf of the state for a specified period of time.
The network is independent of Safaricom’s commercial network though the two will share passive infrastructure such as base system masts.
The project is valued at Sh14.9 billion and the government plans to pay Safaricom for the job over a period of five years.
Out of the total cost of Sh14.9 billion, Sh12.7 billion is earmarked for system construction, while Sh2.2 billion will go into maintenance and support for a period of five years.
A rollout of the project throughout the country would cost Sh21 billion.
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