The Court of Appeal has quashed a ruling by the High Court that directed the IEBC to cancel the Presidential ballot paper tender awarded to Dubai-based firm Al Ghurair.
A five Judge bench consisting of Justices Erastus Githinji, Roselyn Nambuye, Alnashir Visram, Professor James Ouko and Jamila Mohamed noted that the High Court erred in their decision to quash the tender.
In their ruling, the appellate Judges explained that the High Court was wrong in finding that there was sufficient time for the IEBC to restart the procurement process for presidential ballot papers.
The Judges noted that IEBC resorted to direct procurement because of time constraints.
“We are unable to find evidence that IEBC’s choice of direct procurement was to avoid competition. It was because of limited time,” the judges noted.
The court further noted that with the choice of direct procurement, public participation was not mandatory.
“Subject to meeting conditions for direct procurement, the law does not slap a requirement for public participation prior to picking direct procurement," the Court of Appeal ruled.
The Judges also highlighted that a contract cannot be split or separated and as such, the High Court erred in quashing the Presidential ballot papers tender while okaying the printing of the other ballot papers.
“The ballot papers tender is single, inseparable and indivisible, cannot be split," the judges noted.
Last week, IEBC appealed the decision by the High Court to cancel the ballot paper printing tender awarded to Al Ghurair Ltd.
In its appeal, the electoral body argued there was no time to float the tender a fresh as there are only 18 days remaining before the General Election.
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