A Nairobi High Court has temporarily suspended the execution of a tender for a solid waste management system awarded to Zoomlion Ghana Limited by the Nairobi City County government pending the court’s directions.

According to a petition filed at the Milimani Commercial and Tax Division, the Nairobi County granted Zoomlion Ghana Limited a tender for the design, construction, operation, maintenance and transfer of an integrated solid waste management system.

On March 5, 2026, Justice Moses Ado temporarily blocked Nairobi County from implementing the said tender awarded to the foreign company until March 16, 2026, when the matter will come up for further directions.

“That in the meantime, a conservatory order in terms of prayer (b) of the application is hereby granted on a temporary basis pending the said mention, with liberty to any party to apply,” Judge Ado ordered.

According to the notice of motion filed by petitioner Jeremy Kinyua Emilio, it was illegal and unconstitutional for the Nairobi City County Government to award the Ghanaian company the tender without the approval of the Attorney General (AG).

Kinyua sought an order stopping the Nairobi City County government, the chief officer of the Nairobi County government environment, the director of supply chain management of the Nairobi City County government, and the county secretary of the Nairobi County government (listed as the 1st to 4th respondents) from implementing the tender.

“That this honourable court be and hereby grants conservatory orders to stop the 1st-4th respondents from executing the agreement and implementing the award to the interested party (Zoomlion Ghana Limited), tender No. NCC/ENV/RFP/109/2025-2026 for the design, construction, operation, maintenance and transfer of the integrated solid waste management system for the Nairobi City County Government, pending the hearing and determination of this application,” part of the orders sought reads.

The petitioner avers that the awarding of the tender to the Ghanaian company was unlawful and illegal, and did not accrue because they were awarded similar tenders that have been awarded to local entities that they are servicing and implementing.

He notes that a local entity was a successful bidder in the said tender in 2025 for the provision of services to hire heavy equipment, plant and machinery at the Dandora dumpsite in support of waste management by it and is servicing this tender, and the Nairobi County has not been making regular payments to it.

In addition, Kinyua states that another local entity was one of the successful bidders for the said tender for the provision of solid waste collection, transportation and disposal services (Kibra) in support of waste management by it, and it is servicing this tender, but the county has not been making regular payments to it.

Kinyua argues that the purported new tender award will overlap and adversely affect the existing tenders that are being serviced and implemented by the local service providers.

Notably, he says that the Ghanaian company’s massive bank guarantee of Ksh50 million without justification clearly confirms that the tender involves billions of Kenyan shillings that may be lost.

The matter will be mentioned on March 16, 2026, for further directions.