The so-called security procurement, which allows billions of shillings worth of contracts to be awarded behind closed doors, has become a major point of exposure for Kenyan taxpayers.
It may be recalled that some of Kenya’s most egregious acts of corruption took place under the cover of security procurement. At the core of the Anglo Leasing scandal lay a scheme to single-source printing of second-generation passports, supply of prisons and Postal Corporation of Kenya communication equipment, besides the controversial Spanish naval ship.
The expectation was that things would change for the better under the new constitution that came into effect in 2010. The fact that little seems to have changed for the better even with the new Constitution is quite alarming.
The budgets for the security arms, including Intelligence and the Defence, remain a closely guarded secret—with only the headline figure being published in the expenditure books—and little scrutiny is accorded this dark hole. Parliament seems to be doing little to change the situation despite the best effort by the Auditor-General to ensure value for money is secured.
On Tuesday, MPs allowed the Defence ministry to get away with not publicly explaining how a suspect jet-buying deal was done by giving them the privilege of testifying in camera during committee hearings.
This is despite the Auditor- General having already indicted the ministry, which is in the first place constitutionally mandated to respond to queries by the Kenya National Audit Office.
According to the office, the defects identified on the used equipment bought at Sh1.58 billion have not been addressed.
The equipment obtained under a 2007 government-to-government deal from Jordan has remained unused and gobbled hundreds of millions in spare parts over time. Indeed there seems to be little strategic value in hiding what looks like a bad deal. The lesson here should be that our security organs should more be concerned with what they do behind the closed doors than the strength of the enemy, who is clearly capable of obtaining publicly available information.
It is time security procurement opens up for the safety of the country. In any case, with information availability online today, there is little point in concealing information unless one is buying the wrong thing.
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