Twist in Sh14b Safaricom security tender as firm sues regulator

Communications Authority of Kenya Managing Director Francis Wangusi.

Nairobi, Kenya: The controversy around the Sh14.9 billion security tender awarded to Safaricom by the Government deepened Monday after another company laid claim to the frequencies that to be used by the mobile phone service provider.

The private company, Tetra Radio Limited, says it was awarded the same tender in 2002 for provision of similar services to the police at a cost of Sh9 billion.

It subsequently acquired the frequency range of 370MHz to 470 MHz. Tetra, a Kenyan registered company, has since sued the Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) after the two parties disagreed.

The Government cancelled the licence in 2007 abruptly without notice but Tetra Radio moved to court and obtained orders blocking any party from being issued with the same frequencies.

The High Court in 2008 suspended the decision by CAK to cancel the licence issued to Tetra Radio. The company won the tender in 2002 to construct and operate trunked radio communication network countrywide.

Monday, Tetra radio served Safaricom an order it obtained in 2008 from the High Court in Nairobi prohibiting the Government through CAK from allocating the frequency 370MHz to 470MHz to any other party until the case was finalised.

The order was issued after Tetra Radio filed a case against CAK in court. The case is yet to be determined.

The process server could not serve the CAK Managing Director Francis Wangusi because he was said to be busy preparing for a presidential function.

Tetra Radio argued in the court documents that it was allocated the frequency and it should not be issued to any other party.

The company, whose directors are Jacquiline Mwai and Casey Burns, says it organisedfor senior police officers, at its expense, to visit the United Kingdom and South Africa for a working demonstration of the security systems, but the Government treated it unfairly.

The Government last month awarded the tender to Safaricom for Sh14.9 billion through single sourcing, but the same has been contested in court by activist Okiya Omtata.