CS sued in bid to kick out Railways boss, audit SGR contracts

A court battle is brewing over Kenya Railways operations and the corporation’s Managing Director Phillip Mainga's reign.

A petitioner is now seeking to push the KR boss out, claiming he is employed on permanent terms.

In the case against KR board, the Attorney General and Transport Cabinet Secretary, the complainant alleges that Mainga was appointed in 2018, noting that State corporations hire their bosses on short-term contracts.

Mainga has been named as an interested party.

“Under the prevailing governance principles applicable to the state corporations, the office of the Managing Director is not meant to be occupied indefinitely,”  argues Wahome Mucunu, adding that Mainga’s tenure in office ought to have allegedly lapsed in 2024.

 Mucunu claims that the corporation has been at the heart of numerous concerns over procurement and transparency.

He states that among the projects that have raised concerns are the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR project).

According to him, Transparency International this year in March this year allegedly indicated that SGR was a high-risk project, with a 4.9 out of  5 corruption risk score.

“The project has equally generated sustained public debate concerning transparency, accountability, value for money, public participation, procurement practices and debt sustainability. The Petitioner states that the people of Kenya, being the ultimate financiers of the project through taxation and public borrowing, possess a legitimate constitutional interest in the manner in which the project was conceived, procured, financed and implemented,” says Muchunu.

He further claims that Transparency International indicated that public institutions, among them KR, allegedly repeatedly failed to provide information requested by accountability actors and researchers. Muchunu alleged that the assessment concluded that the responses received were insufficient to facilitate effective public oversight.

“All material times relevant to this Petition, the first interested party, Mr. Phillip Mainga, has served as the Managing Director of Kenya Railways Corporation. The office of Managing Director constitutes the highest executive office within the Corporation and carries overall responsibility for the administration, management and operational control of the affairs of the Corporation,” he argues.

He also claims that many questions have been raised by members of the public, civil society organisations,
governance experts and accountability institutions regarding the management of major projects undertaken by the corporation.

According to him, the answers given do not allegedly exude confidence as they are not allegedly fully addressed.

“Such concerns have centered on the adequacy of procurement procedures, transparency of contractual arrangements, disclosure of project costs and effectiveness of oversight mechanisms. The Petitioner states that these concerns have never been adequately addressed in a manner capable of restoring public confidence,” he continues.

In his case before Justice David Mburu, the petitioner urges the court to find that failure to disclose details about the SGR contract was a violation of the Constitution. He also seeks for a finding that Mainga ought to have left office by last year.

At the same time, he is urging the court to rule that the parastatal’s board had violated the Constitution and to compel it to find his successor.

Muchunu also wants to have the SGR project contracts audited.