IFMIS should be mandatory in counties to boost transparency

President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto during the launch of the IFMIS electronic Procurement (E-Procurement) at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre in 2014. [File, Standard]

Since the advent of devolution, the state of counties’ procurement management has been a cause for concern. Phrases like “pending bills” have become common. This arises from the fact that many counties have to allocate a vote for payment of long-outstanding bills, some of which date back as far as 2013. This is despite the fact that procurements should only have been done where funding was already earmarked and available.