Chinese telecommunications company ZTE has challenged the decision by the Kenyan government to cancel communication tenders for the Kenya Police.
The cancellation of a number of tenders by the government has elicited a reaction by the Chinese company, claiming Francis Kimemia, Kenya’s Head of Public Service, has no power to cancel the tenders.
“Your letter is obviously intended at subverting the ongoing civil case arising from the material tender. Your letter is also intended at interfering with the hearing, and steals a judicial march for Huawei,” ZTE said through its lawyer, as quoted by the Daily Nation.
According to Kimemia, the government should drop the police communication and surveillance project as the amount was exaggerated and the tendering process flawed.
“The cost of supporting county governments, the huge demands for salaries by government employees, and other unnamed priorities as the reason the project should not go on,” he said.
The Anglo Leasing scandal, which came to light in 2002, also included technology overhauls, including those of high-end labs, within the police sector.
Blamed on corruption in the tendering process, the development of the police department to be IT-savvy was dropped. The cancellation of the police communication surveillance tender comes only days before the general election, where it is expected the police would be deployed to arrest any violence in various parts of the country.
Kimemia has recently been criticised by a section of politicians aligned to the CORD alliance for taking part in partisan politics.
