{The East African Court of Justice First Instance Division on Tuesday heard a matter seeking the determination of a case challenging an agreement signed between Uganda and China to construct 600MW Kaluma Hydro Power plant in Uganda.}
The applicant, Mr Henry Kyarimpa represented by his lawyer Mr Mohamed Mbabazi asked the court to find that the memorandum of understanding (MoU) was an infringement of the provisions of the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community on fundamental principles of good governance, democracy and rule of law, Articles 6, 7 and 8. He also asked the court to interpret Article 38 (2) of the same.
Mr Mbabazi submitted that there were court orders issued on April 18 and 22, last year by the Uganda High Court and that on April 23 the contract committee went ahead and cancelled all bids which, according to the applicant, is a violation of the treaty provisions.
Among the court orders, were for the Ugandan government (the respondent) to preserve the status quo, ordering the award of the contract to the best evaluated bidder for the engineering, procurement and construction of the power plant and the status quo be maintained.
Mr Mbabazi said that non-compliance by the respondent to the court’s order is an infringement of the treaty because the awarding of the contract was done outside the procurement process.
Mr Bafirawala Elisha, Senior State Attorney and Mr Richard Adrole, State Attorney who are also counsels for the respondent argued that at the time when the High Court issued the order, there was no best evaluated bidder, there was no statute restraining the government from proceeding with the new procurement process and the Inspector General of Government (IGG) had issued a cancellation report to the Ministry of Energy and Minerals to stop the procurement process because it was allegedly riddled with bribery and corruption.
They also argued that the government, not being satisfied with the High Court order mentioned above, is in the process of appealing. Mr Adrole added that in a bi-lateral arrangement between the government of Uganda and China signed July 2013 does not touch the Karuma dam construction but other areas of development.
He concluded that, Uganda therefore nullified the previous procurement process after investigations by the IGG and found out the process was not accurate and not recommended by the Ministry of Energy and Minerals of Uganda as well which led to the cancellation of the previous procurement process and now the government is in the process of implementing another one.
He also said that Section 75 of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act (2003), gives powers to the procurement committee to reject any or all bids at any time prior to the award of the contract. The court will deliver the judgment on notice.
The hearing came before Justice Jean Bosco Butasi, Principal Judge Isaac Lenaola, Deputy Principal Judge Justice Faustin Ntezilyayo, Lady Justice Monica Mugenyi and Mr Justice Fakihi Jundu.
By MARC NKWAME, Tanzania Daily News
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