Two companies banned in Kenya bid for car inspection tender in Tanzania
Summary
- The public procurement laws in Tanzania stipulate that if a company is banned and barred from doing business with another nation or with an international company it cannot participate or do business with the government of Tanzania.
- The law also prohibits companies banned for engaging in fraud or corruption, from doing business in the country for 10 years while those banned for any other reason are banned for five years.
Dar es Salaam. Two companies that were banned from operating in Kenya are part of the four companies that applied for tenders to inspect vehicles at the port of Dar es Salaam, it has been revealed.
The tender announcement available on the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) website indicates that by April 4, which was the deadline for submitting applications only four applicants had showed up.
The National Electronic Procurement System (TaNeps) has identified the bidding companies as Wilna International, Auto Terminal Japan Limited, Quality Inspection Services Japan and EAA Company Limited.
However, reports indicate that in 2021 the Kenya Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) banned Auto Terminal Japan Limited and EAA Automobiles Services for three years for allegedly forging documents when applying for vehicle inspection tenders at the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS).
EAA was blacklisted for using forged papers to bid for a motor vehicle and spare parts inspection tender floated by the Kenya Bureau of Standards in 2011, 2014 and 2017.
In February 2022, a magistrate’s court in Nairobi dismissed a suit filed by embattled regional inspection firm EAA Company Ltd challenging its blacklisting from public procurement in Kenya, as authorities probe allegations that the firm used an unregistered lawyer to lodge the case.
In Kenya, impersonation carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison.
“The firm of Klein & Omino Associates, which ostensibly drew the pleadings on behalf of EAA Company Limited, is registered as “agents and property managers” and is therefore not a firm of advocates. Further, Calvince Omondi Omino, who is the proprietor of the said firm of Klein & Omino Associates as per the official search records from the Business Registration Service, is not admitted as an advocate of the High Court of Kenya,” the PPRA says in its complaint to the DCI.
According to The East African, The dismissal of EAA’s case could spell the end for the firm’s work in public procurement in Kenya, as it can no longer bid for any public-funded project. The company also has operations in Uganda, where it has a contract with the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS).
On the other hand, Auto Terminal Japan Ltd was registered and established on 10 March 1997 was banned from inspecting vehicles in Kenya following a ruling in a case filed by PPRA against the company.
The ruling which, The Citizen has seen, banned the company for three years from June 2, 2021, and the Kenyan Ministry of Finance and Planning published the ban on East Africa Automobiles Services in the Government Gazette on December 24, 2021, stating that it would last for three years.
When reached for comment EAA’s representative who only identified himself as Dan could not give concrete answers on how they were going to handle the Tanzanian situation.
“Stop asking questions, tell me what you want? What is your problem? Where did you get this information? ” asked Dan in agitation.
The public procurement laws in Tanzania stipulate that if a company is banned and barred from doing business with another nation or with an international company it cannot participate or do business with the government of Tanzania.
The law also prohibits companies banned for engaging in fraud or corruption, from doing business in the country for 10 years while those banned for any other reason are banned for five years.
TBS was initially inspecting all vehicles entering the country using four agents, including one based in Dubai and three based in Japan.
The companies sent applications to TBS after President Samia Suluhu Hassan last week instructed that cars should be inspected at their points of origin instead of carrying out the exercise at Dar Port.
President Samia issued the directive while receiving a report from the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) and a report by the Anti-graft body PCCB on March 30, in Dodoma.
"In Tanzania, we do not manufacture cars, they are all manufactured where we order them, why don't we have an agency to inspect cars where they come from instead of bringing them here because even if you inspect them here, you are not the manufacturer," she queried.
According to TBS Director General, Dr Athumani Ngenya the main area of contention in the inspection of vehicles in the country is where the law requires a defective car to be returned or destroyed.
"The issue of either returning or destroying the vehicle has been raised several times but its implementation is a challenge,” he said.