Kakamega suppliers, contractors praise electronic procurement system, says it will end inequality

Suppliers and contractors during training at Masinde Muliro University in Kakamega on Monday /HILTON OTENYO

Suppliers and contractors in Kakamega have welcomed the rollout of e-Government Procurement, saying it promises to level the playing field.

They said the system is paperless and allows them to access tender processes by the national and county governments.

“The system will end cases where only a few individuals benefit from government tenders based on political connections or who you know,” Nathan Ochunge said.

He spoke during a training session for suppliers and contractors at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology.

Supplier Mildred Kiberenge said the system allows even the general public to access the portal and track tender implementation in terms of money allocated and timelines.

Participants were trained on bid preparation, supplier registration, contract management, and how to request bid security online.

The training programme, which started last month, is a partnership between the National Treasury and the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI) and will run until next month.

The programme targets to train more than 10,000 suppliers and contractors across all 47 counties on the benefits of the system and how to use it.

A senior supply chain officer at the National Treasury, Wilfred Siakama, said more than 37,000 suppliers have been approved in the system.

He said the system seeks to enhance transparency, eliminate inequality, and address issues of access to tendering and procurement opportunities in government for the youth, women and people with disabilities.

“We want to increase bidder participation since many people have registered companies they are not using because they have given up on government procurement opportunities. We want to build confidence among our suppliers that eGP is here to assist them in tracking their payments,” Siakama said.

KNCCI head of policy, research and advocacy Osedo Stephan said the system will eliminate pending bills since the government will only upload tenders that have budgets within the budget document and address gaps that led to accumulated bills.

He said the chamber of commerce had a roundtable meeting with President William Ruto, and he committed that the government would allocate Sh150 billion towards settling pending bills owed to suppliers and contractors in the current financial year.

“The current pending bills are more than Sh600 billion and are affecting suppliers directly because the money needed to continue operating has really reduced,” Osedo said.

“We’re engaging with the President and the National Treasury so the money can be released to suppliers since the cost of doing business has gone up and more businesses will close down if the money continues being held.”

“We’re looking at a procurement process that is transparent, accountable, and brings value to the people of Kenya.”