The Supreme Court has given a verdict affirming the legality and transparency of the Kes500 billion contract between Kenya and China to construct the Standard Gauge Railways (SGR).

In a unanimous decision on Friday, the five Supreme Court judges declared that the execution of the multi-billion project did not violate any procurement laws.

As a result, the Court overturned an earlier Court of Appeal decision that had found flaws in the procurement process.

For many years, claims of exaggerated SGR expenditures benefiting a select few people have dominated public conversation and frequently put former President Kenyatta and his administration in an unfavourable light.

But the Judges finally ended it by declaring that no crime had been committed.

“The SGR procurement was undertaken as a government-to-government contract hence exempt from the provisions of the Public Procurement Disposal Act, 2005 by virtue of section 6(1) of the said Act,” they ruled.

During their first term of presidency in 2013, Retired President Uhuru Kenyatta and his then-deputy, William Ruto, signed and supervised the SGR project.