Court dismisses EACC bid to block Sh20.5 million fire engine tender payment
Justice Francis Rayola Olel ruled that the anti-graft agency had failed to meet the legal threshold for the grant of an injunction and that halting the payment would amount to interfering with a valid court decree issued in a previous case.
The High Court in Marsabit has dismissed an application by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) seeking to block the payment of Sh20.5 million to a private company over a controversial fire engine tender awarded by the county government.
Justice Francis Rayola Olel ruled that the anti-graft agency had failed to meet the legal threshold for the grant of an injunction and that halting the payment would amount to interfering with a valid court decree issued in a previous case.
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EACC had moved to court in February 2025, seeking orders to restrain Marsabit County Government from paying Drescoll Limited, which had been awarded the tender to supply a fire engine at Sh62 million under tender number MBT/COU/ENERGY/106/2018-2019.
The Commission argued that its investigations had unearthed irregularities in the procurement process, including falsified documents, illegal evaluation criteria, and inflated pricing.
According to EACC, the evaluation committee, comprising county officials, unlawfully disqualified a lower bidder, Achelis Material Handling Ltd, and awarded the contract to Drescoll, which allegedly imported a fire engine at a cost of about Sh11.3 million but sold it to the county for nearly six times that amount.
EACC sought to bar further payments to Drescoll, which had already received Sh42 million, arguing that the remaining amount was at risk of being lost.
However, the respondents, including county officials and directors of Drescoll, dismissed the allegations as baseless and politically motivated. They maintained that the procurement was above board, the fire engine met all specifications, and the county had acknowledged receipt and inspection of the vehicle.
They further pointed out that Drescoll had already obtained a valid judgment in Marsabit HCCC No. 3 of 2020, ordering the county to pay the full tender amount. The county government, represented by Secretary Hussein Tarry Sasura, confirmed that the decree remained in force and unchallenged.
In his ruling, Justice Olel held that "it would be an abuse of the judicial process for one court to issue orders stopping the execution of a decree from another court of concurrent jurisdiction".
He advised EACC to pursue its concerns in the original case rather than instituting new proceedings.
Consequently, the court dismissed the EACC's application with costs to the respondents.
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