The High Court has temporarily suspended the government’s plan to establish a production facility for motor vehicle digital registration number plates.
The Interior Ministry had in July advertised for firms to show interest in building the plant to produce the digital number plates, which were to replace the current ones next year.
Motorists were expected to pay Sh3,000 for each of the smart number plates.
Wednesday, Justice James Makau suspended tendering for the plant pending hearing and determination of an application filed by activist Okiya Omtatah challenging the procurement process and justification for building one.
Mr Omtatah alleged corruption and fraud in the government’s intention to establish the production facility.
The fresh tender was aimed at circumventing a legal hitch that blocked the Prisons Department from picking a firm to supply smart number plates.
In the court papers, the activist argued that between 2013 and 2015, the government spent more than Sh1 billion acquiring, commissioning and testing a facility for the production of new generation number plates at Kamiti Prison.
“It makes no sense at all to abandon the already acquired, tested and commissioned machinery for the final production of the number plates, which is lying idle at Kamiti Prison, and procure an entire production plant whose installed capacity will never be utilised,” said Mr Omtatah.
The push for the smart plates comes amid concerns about increased duplication of the current ones by tax-evasion cartels and criminals.
Che computerised number plates that have anti-counterfeit features, including holograms, watermarks, and laser markers, are expected to make it easier for the police to trace information on particular vehicles and their owners.
Source: BD Africa
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