Kenyans will on October 4 know whether or not the second container terminal at the port of Mombasa will be privatised.
This follows the conclusion of a three-day court hearing of a petition seeking to stop the privatisation of the CT2 on Wednesday. The petitioners are Taireni Association of Mijikenda, the Dock Workers Union and the Muslim for Human Rights.
They had challenged an MoU signed between the Ministry of Transport and the foreign shipping line allowing the latter to run the CT2 through parastatal Kenya National Shipping Line Company.
The petition was heard by judges Erick Ogolla, Mugure Thande and Alfred Mabeya.
The petitioners, through lawyers Arnold Oginga and Alfred Nyandieka, argued that the MoU breached the constitution by allowing the port to be run by a foreign entity.
But Kenya Ports Authority, the National Assembly, MSC and Kenya Seafarers Welfare Association sought the dismissal of the petition through lawyers Sanjeev Kalgram, Kamau Karori and Sheriffsam Mwendwa.
“The Kenya National Shipping Line was established in 1987 and MSC is a shareholder of Kenya National Shipping Line since 1997. Therefore, the allegations that the port of being handed over to MSC on a silver platter are untrue. The reality is contrary to the petition,” Kalgram said.
Mwendwa said the petitioners erred in naming Parliament as the third respondent in the case because the National Assembly is not in the business of crafting MoUs.
“The matter we are dealing here is an MoU. Parliament does not pass documents called MoUs, but rather enact laws. We cannot be part of these proceedings,” he said.
Nyandieka responded that the issue of commercial transaction is a distraction. "The subject matter is purely constitutional. They (respondents) have breached several articles of the Constitution, which is the Supreme Law of this country.”
Karori, for MSC, said the shipping line has a 22-year shareholding at KNSL. “What is wrong with two shareholders sitting together to come up with ways of reviving KNSL? There is no need for public participation.”
He said the MoU was not presented to the judges.
