Bungoma assembly risks lawsuit in tender row

Bungoma county assembly risks facing a lawsuit after a telecommunication company served it with a demand notice for breach of procurement rules and regulations. Valley Point Telecoms through its lawyer Nixon Sifuna has give the assembly and the clerk John Mosongo an  ultimatum through a demand notice dated August 19  2014 to respond to pertinent issues emanating from a Sh8.9 million tender row to install the assembly Hansard equipment.

“Our client of the above named firm applied for the above tender and you by your letter of October 7 2013 awarded them the said tender which they by their letter of November 8 2013 accepted,” read part of the demand notice.

The county assembly must within ten days allow my client to commence work or in the alternative, admit liability for breach of contract,’’ said Nixon Sifuna the company lawyer. “Failure to do that I have mandatory instructions to institute a lawsuit against the county assembly and the clerk with intention of seeking damages’’, he added. He said that Valley Point Telecoms applied for the tender and awarded through fair competition only to learn later that another company had embarked on the job. “My client was preparing to start the job but it turned out that the assembly had through its clerk awarded another firm the tender. This is irregular and illegal and a clear violation of the law of contracts as well as procurement law and procedures,’’ reads part of the letter.

The company lawyer said that the notice is informed by the tender award letter issued by the assembly that has never materialised one year down the line hence raising credibility of the procurement procedures. Sources at the assembly, however, revealed that the assembly through its clerk issued two tender letters to two companies for the job. The tender is however said to have split the assembly board with a section of the members accusing the clerk for breaching the procurement rules.