Counties raise concerns over delays in e-procurement system

National Treasury CS John Mbadi addresses the media on the status of e-government procurement system at the Treasury Building, Nairobi, on August 28, 2025. [File, Standard] There is growing opposition on the directive requiring all government agencies to migrate to the new electronic procurement platform, with concerns of delayed acquisition of critical commodities in some sectors. Samburu Governor, Jonathan Lati Lelelit who appeared before the Senate Committee on Roads and Transportation to respond to county queries said e-procurement is the way to go for the country. He however said that it may pose a major challenge to the operations of counties, for instance in running of the school feeding programme that requires immediate procurement. At the moment, he said there has not been any absorption in counties and could end this quarter with no procurement adding that however good the system is, it should have been taken in phases or allowed sometime. "Like now, if I were to buy seeds for our counties for people to plant, the planting season is here and I cannot have seeds. Even worse, schools are open and in the entire county we do a school feeding programme for the children the entire term because that is how they go to school. As we speak today, we have not procured a single thing for our schools," the governor said. "The school calendar does not know that we are supposed to use e-procurement and we do not have food in schools, and we cannot procure, it is most likely that this term will end without our children having food in schools and that filters into something very serious like dropout rates in very remote areas, so as Parliament, maybe these issues should be raised at national level. How do you explain e-procurement in a very remote area in Samburu," he added. He, however said that proposers of e- procurement have good intentions for Kenyans and eventually it is the way to go for the country. "But if we consider where we are today as counties, we are in the middle of September and it is possible to get to the end of the month without procuring anything. How are we supposed, as government entities to absorb every quarter as produced by the Controller of Budget?" he posed. Mwingi Senator, Enoch Wambua who was the session chairperson urged the Governors to do the most natural thing, to speak the truth to the National Government, saying that it cannot dictate how counties are run because those are two different levels of Government. He said the move to dictate everything, including systems of governance to counties should come to an end if all stakeholders speak the truth to the National Government. "Good intentions do not always yield to positive results. When you listen to what the governor is saying and about those children to access education, talking about e-procurement is like playing a guitar to a goat, because, what are you telling them? They are supposed to be in schools, they were in school last term now what has happened? The National Government cannot pretend that it can allocate any money to any county, they cannot. The money is allocated to counties by Parliament," Wambua said. Nominated Senator, Peris Tobiko agreed with the Governor saying there is need for candid conversation for e-procurement because, as good as it is and well-intended, it might come to negate the good intentions of devolution, especially in remote counties and people may not understand this concept. "People may not understand the issue of e-procurement and will be a platform of survival for the fittest, contractors who are qualified and have capital, have systems in place yet we are trying to empower our people at that very grassroots level so we should not disempower people with policy that might need to be implemented in phases but I think this is a conversation that needs to be opened up," she said. Marsabit Senator, Mohamed Chute said that e-procurement will cure processes involved but the fact that it is being rushed could bring challenges. "Because e-pro it is being rushed like it happened with Social Health Authority, we are having issues because of doing it without having a proper programme. We hope the governor can try to fast track the e-procurement because it is something that can help this country," Chute said. The National Assembly Committee on Implementation was scheduled to meet yesterday, with the agenda being the implementation status of recommendations of the Report of the Committee on Delegated Legislation on its consideration of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority Circular No. 04/2025 on the mandatory use of e-GP by all procuring entities in contravention of section 77 of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, Cap. 412C. However, National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi sought a postponement to a later date.

Counties raise concerns over delays in e-procurement system

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