Court Approves Printing of New Kenyan Currency

The High Court on Tuesday gave the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) the mandate to open tender bids for printing of the new Kenyan currency as planned.

Judge Chacha Mwita rejected an application by DeLaRue Security Printing firm and another interested printing company who sought to prevent the CBK from opening the tender documents.

However, in his ruling, Justice Mwita ordered the printing firms to respond to allegations by CBK that they had illegally acquired tender documents.

Parties in the case were directed to appear in court next Thursday when De La Rue will explain how it obtained the tender documents yet it had not participated in the tendering process.

[caption caption="The De la Rue Currency and Security Print Firm"][/caption]

CBK, through lawyer Ochieng Oduol, urged the court not to issue the restraining order accusing the respondents of “not approaching the court with clean hands”.

Mr Oduol further implored Justice Mwita to decline the invitation to scuttle the tendering process which began in 2014.

The printing companies had accused the CBK of unlawfully restricting the process to foreign entities alone in violation of mandatory requirements guiding the procurement.

Furthermore, they asked that the process be halted pending determination of the case on grounds that the move will lead to irreparable harm in the local industry.

CBK was been faulted for issuing the printing tender without considering the Constitutional provisions and the Public Procurement and Asset & Disposal Act.

The CBK was further accused of having invited various foreign entities to submit their bids by November 22, at 10.30am.

[caption caption="Central Bank of Kenya"][/caption]

The submitted bids will, therefore, be immediately opened, evaluated and the tender awarded to the most successful foreign entity.

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