Women, youth and PWDs won State tenders worth Sh56 billion

Youth contractors from Fist Group construct part of the Eldoret-Kapsoya Road in Uasin Gishu County after acquiring Class F certificate. Over 30 per cent of all State tenders are supposed to be reserved for youth and women. [Kevin Tunoi, Standard]

More than Sh56.4 billion worth of State tenders have been awarded to women, youth and People with Disabilities (PwDs) since 2016 according to the Government.

The Parliament passed the popular law in 2015, demanding that state agencies reserve at least 30 per cent of tenders for these special interest groups, in a move aimed at empowering them financially.

But data tabled by Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich before the Parliament’s Committee on Finance and National Planning yesterday came under criticism from parliamentarians who disputed the extent to which the money has been of help to these disadvantaged groups.

Committee Chair Joseph Limo fired the first salvo, claiming that most of the awarded companies were fronts of well to do Kenyans who use women, youth or PWDs as pawns to fraudulently get tenders from the State.

“We are aware that the real people who should be benefiting from these tenders, are actually being used by wealthy individuals to apply for the tenders on their behalf,” said Kipkelion East MP.

“The Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO law) spells out that at least 70 per cent of a company must be owned by one of the special interest groups before it qualifies for an AGPO tender. We still feel that this is too much. We want the law amended further to make ownership of the companies be 100 per cent by the special interest groups,” he added.

The law came about following the amendment of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act to create the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO).

Of the 67,690 tenders that CS Rotich claimed were set aside for the groups, women got the lion’s share bagging 34,335. Youth got 29,170 while PWDs got 4,066.

On the flip-side, despite women getting the most tenders, they came second in the monetary worth of the tenders to youth, with their tenders being valued at Sh23.5 billion.

Youth had their tenders valued at Sh28.8 billion. PWDs tenders were worth Sh4.1 billion. The total amount coming to Sh56.4 billion.   

Special interest

Molo MP Kuria Kimani cited the difficulties that the special interest groups face in trying to get funding to execute these tenders as hindrance to the programmes’ progress.

He noted that most vulnerable groups experience payment delays from government offices even after fulfilling their tender obligations.

Mr Rotich told MPs that the government was looking for a way to create a State kitty that can offer guarantees to these groups when they take up credit from financial institutions.

CS Rotich also faulted some State agencies for derailing the spirit of the AGPO law by refusing to set aside some tenders for special interest groups.

“A number of procuring entities reserve less than the required minimum of 30 per cent of their annual procurement budget for the special interest groups which is against the provisions of section 157 (5) of the AGPO Act,” Rotich said.

“There is also poor reporting by these entities on the status of implementation of the scheme to the National Treasury.”