Procurement in ministries, state agencies and county governments has for a long time provided the perfect ground for corruption.
Inflated prices on goods that are not required, payment before delivery and delivery of substandard goods and services are some of the crafty ways state officers use to rob from government.
It was, therefore, expected that the publishing of tenders and the subsequent publication of the winners would end the opaqueness in tendering.
This was supposed to be done through the various websites of the procuring entity, and any interested party would readily have the details at the click of a button.
Also to be publicised were the technical and financial capacity of the winning firms, the contract sum as well as names of the evaluation committee members.
Sadly, government agencies and counties have for more than three years blatantly defied President Uhuru Kenyatta’s order to publicise the identity of suppliers, complete with their shareholding.
According to a Public Procurement Regulatory Authority report (see Page4 and 5) security agencies are among the top violators of the directive, operating some of the most opaque procurement processes.
Unless procurement is streamlined, corruption through flawed tendering will continue to be the road to quick riches by public officers.
For a start, the requirement that they put in the open all tenders and the winners must be enforced.
