The government’s shift to a fully digital procurement platform is unsettling some officials, Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has said.
Mbadi insists that the system’s rigid transparency and accountability features are deliberately designed to close loopholes that have long enabled corruption and irregular tendering.
Speaking on a media interview on Thursday, Mbadi said the new e-procurement system has built-in safeguards that make it impossible to manipulate records once they are uploaded.
Unlike the traditional paper-based or manual processes, which could be altered, hidden, or even destroyed, the digital system automatically locks all submitted information, ensuring full transparency, he said.
“All the information that will be required for the tender will be uploaded to the system,” Mbadi explained.
“The way the system is designed, you cannot delete a document, you cannot amend. If you make a mistake, for example, putting the price where the quantity should be, you will have to reject the whole transaction and start afresh. Those are the safeguards and security features we are putting here.”
He added that this level of traceability is what has left some officials uneasy.
Under the manual system, documents could easily disappear, making it difficult to establish accountability in procurement disputes or investigations.
By contrast, in the e-procurement platform, once a certificate or compliance document is uploaded, it becomes visible and verifiable, leaving no room for alterations.
“Unlike a paper which you can pluck away and go away with it, in this system, once I put in, say, my NCA certificate, say it’s Grade 6 and yet the requirement was Grade 3, the system will not allow you to proceed because it is there and everybody will see it,” Mbadi noted.
The CS maintained that this discomfort is evidence that the reforms are working.
His remarks come moments after he emphasised that government officers have no legal or procedural excuse to ignore the circular and that the country will not return to the manual procurement system.
Speaking during the Development Partnership Forum, the CS reaffirmed the government’s commitment to e-procurement, dismissing claims that the circular requiring its use had been revoked.
“There has been contention that e-procurement was revoked. Let me be clear: Parliament has not revoked anything. If any government officer is going to use that as an excuse, I will not accept it,” Mbadi stated.
