State to review tender laws

The government plans to review procurement laws to regulate how products and items for emergencies should be purchased.

According to a report the changes seek to seal loopholes that individuals might exploit to embezzle money and also avoid wastage.

The amendments include review of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act of 2015 as indicated in the County Covid-19 Social Economic Re-engineering recovery strategy 2020/21-2022/23 report.

“There will be a review of procurement laws, to have clear provisions on emergency procurement and procurement in times of urgent needs and disclosure of information in the case of direct procurement to avoid abuse of procurement processes,” reads the report dated September 2020.

The report sanctioned by President Uhuru Kenyatta notes that this gap in emergency procurement often leads to lack of value of money, delivery of substandard or poor quality goods, payment without delivery of goods and services, unqualified suppliers, inflated costs and incompetent suppliers.

This change has been informed by the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority Sh7.1 billion probe.

The report notes that to ensure accountability, there will also be legal and statutory requirements for audit of the financial statements of emergency funds.

In the document, the government seeks to separate how national and county governments work during disasters.

The document notes that the two levels of governments have led to duplication of interventions in the health sector, particularly during the Covid-19 outbreak.

The report recommends that the two levels of governments should identify gaps in health providers, address mental health needs, and invest in research and development to spur innovation and legislate and equip community health volunteers.