Court rescues Department of Defense from Sh676m claim

The High Court has dismissed claims by MFI Solutions Ltd to have the Government pay it Sh76 million for breach of contract. The firm had sued the Attorney General and the Defense ministry over supply of printing machine toners to the Department of Defense (DOD).

However, the court found there was no sale agreement between the firm and DOD. MFI Solutions was demanding Sh76.336 million for over the 3,000 unpaid toners. High Court judge Alfred Mabeya ruled that the company did not deserve pay as it supplied them without the ministry agreeing to the deal.

“In my view and which I so hold, there was no contract of sale of 3,800 TK17 toners to the Defense ministry,” Justice Mabeya ruled.

“The said toners belonged to and are still the property of MFI Solutions. The second defendant ( DOD) is not bound to pay for their value. The loss has to fall where it lies, with the Plaintiff.”

In the case, the company claimed the ministry had ordered for the tonners and that it acknowledged receipt, and had been storing them since 2006. It noted that there was a contract of which the legal claim was founded on.

However, the ministry denied having any contract with the firm. MFI Solutions had donated 1900 Kyocera Printers to the Department of Defense in a bid to overhaul old printers that were being used by the department.

The company said the tonners were needed for the machines but the ministry disputed the claim, saying it was not bound to purchase them from the company after the donation.

“It would seem that the parties were in agreement that there was to be a donation at no capital expenditure at all. What the parties were not in agreement with is the consumables. Whilst MFI Solutions indicated that the consumables were to be purchased, DOD was categorical that the donation was being accepted with no conditions attached,” the judge noted. “The parties were in agreement on only one thing, the donation of 1900 Kyocera Mita printers to the second defendant (DOD) at no capital expenditure. I doubt if there was any agreement on anything else.”

Justice Mabeya also questioned why the company had not demanded to have the tonners returned after the ministry failed to pay for the same.

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