President William Ruto, Siaya Governor James Orengo (right), CS Energy Opiyo Wandayi (left) and Treasury CS John Mbadi during a church service at St Peter’s ACK Cathedral in Siaya county / PCS
President Wiliam Ruto gave a directive that from July this year, all procuring entities must use the electronic government procurement system in order to ensure efficiency, transparency, and accountability, leading to value for money for Kenyans.
There has been hue and cry on the same, starting with Parliament and most recently, the Council of Governors. This was expected in that there have been a lot of vested interests when it comes to procurement matters, since the government is the biggest market for public goods and services.
This is the reason behind the resistance. It’s important to note that there exist immense benefits in going digital. To begin with, the process will be automated, hence remove a lot of human agency and interference.
Secondly, the people will get a fairer chance to supply to the government, away from only certain individuals and companies doing so.
Thirdly, there shall be fairer pricing of goods and services since the National Treasury will have an indicative price for all Common User Items (CUIs), such that a pen that costs 20 bob in one state agency, cannot be sold at 50 bob in another.
This will help reduce wastage significantly as has been witnessed before. Further, the system will help a lot in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), including county governments, constitutional commissions, and independent offices to adhere to their budget ceilings rather than procuring what hasn’t been budgeted, or going overboard, hence creating unnecessary pending bills, thus straining already scarce resources.
In addition, the system will enable the effective implementation of the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO), such that it will be easy to audit the participation of women, youth and persons with disabilities in this programme. It will be easy to tell for example what monetary value, nature of good, and services have gone to these Special Interest Groups who are mostly hustlers, at the touch of a button.
It is estimated that the E-GP will lead to the savings of between Sh80 to 250 billion in the short, medium, and long run; funds that will come in handy to finance our development as a country. Currently, our development budget is less than Sh800 billion, with the portion contributed from Ordinary Shareable Revenue (taxes etc), being about Sh250 billion.
This means that with the savings, we can be able to do more roads, water projects, last mile connectivity, health facilities etc, yet this money is currently going into people’s pockets.
The benefits of using the E-GP are immense, as the system can also be integrated with other pre-existing Management Information Systems (MIS) such as the Integrated, Financial Management Information System (IFMIS), SHA, the Kenya Education Management Information System (KEMIS), and others. This way, government information and data shall be verifiable such that we are able to know how much funds are being spent on which area.
Through the E-GP and the advent of the Conflict of Interest Act, it will become easier to trace any malfeasance, due to the evidence; hence this will greatly help in the fight against corruption, something that has been a big challenge since time immemorial.
So far, 62 State Departments have fully been on-boarded and 94 county assemblies as well. Out of the 638 targeted state corporations, semi-autonomous government agencies, technical, vocational, educational training (TVETs), and technical training institutes (TTIs), 547 have complied, representing 86 per cent compliance. Out of 93 county corporation water companies, 81 out of 93 of them have complied, representing 87 per cent of the people.
In terms of training, 804 out 840 relevant staff have been trained from State Departments, representing 95%; 700 out of 715 staff from county executives/ assemblies have been trained translating to 98 per cent , 844 out of 1600 state agencies’ staff have been trained, representing 53 per cent, and a webinar for the same cadre of staff has been conducted for 3,297 staff (51 per cent), against a target of 6,400. In addition, over 420 staff from the Judiciary, Parliament, Constitutional Commissions and Independent Offices have also been trained.
Further, the National Treasury has uploaded the budget to the E-GP system. However, exchequer release is tied to full compliance with the system for procurable items. The preparation and approval for the Annual Procurement Plan is ongoing.
Moreover, 33 county governments have submitted their budgets for uploading into the system. Just like we had lots of resistance before with the transition from Analogue to digital platform with the media, this system is facing some resistance to change, but it will have to be done for the common good of all.
Today, SHA is working, despite the usual noise that has come from many quarters across the spectrum of health service provision, within the public and private sector. As a result of the cleaning up of the Inua Jamii Cash Transfer program, over 600 million shillings have been saved, so that it will now be possible to insure Kenyans who are indigents (can’t pay, won’t pay} in to the social protection systems. Although there are delays in the transition period, these are teething problems that will be fixed as we go by.
Let’s all embrace E-GP for effective public service delivery, and for the impersonal application of public policy to take shape and root within our democracy. It is possible!!
