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House Team Clears Safaricom Security Tender Award(AllAfrica Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) A parliamentary committee on Thursday approved the national security surveillance system award to Safaricom. The deal will see the mobile service provider set up and manage a secure communication network for police featuring surveillance cameras and digital communication devices linked to a central command and mapping centre. According to Business Daily, The parliamentary committee that investigated the award of the Sh14.9 billion integrated security surveillance tender to the telecoms firm on Thursday said it had not found any irregularities in the deal. Instead, the Administration and National Security committee said it had come to the conclusion that the proposed communication and surveillance system "would greatly help security agencies face up to the rising wave of security challenges in the country." The committee, which had stopped the Interior ministry from signing the tender contract with Safaricom, ruled out any mischief in the choice of Safaricom concluding that East Africa's largest telecoms firm has the requisite financial capability and experience in the field of telecommunication networks and infrastructure building. The committee, chaired by Tiaty MP Asman Kamama, said that whereas Article 227 of the Constitution requires State entities contracting for goods and services to do so in a system that is fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost effective, the team had considered Section 74 of the Public Procurement and Disposal Act, which allows direct procurement subject to the procuring entity meeting certain conditions. In its report, the National Security Committee said the contract, initially set to cover Nairobi region, should extend to the rest of the country as soon as possible. In June, Parliament had stopped the signing of the contract, questioning Safaricom's technical capacity to roll out the highly sophisticated communication network for the Kenya Police Service. The House is set to debate the matter. However, the police communication tender still faces a challenge from a firm claiming to have been awarded the contract more than a decade ago. Tetra Radio moved to court this month seeking to commit Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) directors to civil jail for allegedly ignoring a valid court order in giving Safaricom a frequency for the deal. Tetra Radio in 2001 made a bid of $5.2 million (Sh447 million) to roll out a radio network on frequency range between 370 MHZ to 470 MHZ for the national police service. It alleges that the communication regulator refused to receive the first instalments of the $5.2 million on grounds that the frequency was not available. Tetra Radio says it was awarded a similar contract in 2001 for the building, operation and provision of a communication system for the Kenya Police, and argues that its deal with the government is still valid. Copyright CIO East Africa. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). |