The Auditor-General has flagged under-allocation of tenders to marginalised businesses by Kenya Power in the year ended June 2025, even as the firm awarded deals worth Sh3.5 billion to the groups.
The Auditor-General, Nancy Gathungu, says that the firm failed to meet the constitutional requirement that mandates all State-owned entities to reserve 30 percent of all tenders for businesses owned by youth, women, and persons with disabilities under Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (Agpo).
“Review of the company’s approved procurement plan for the year under review revealed that only 11 percent of the procurement budget was reserved for disadvantaged groups,” Ms Gathungu said.
Kenya Power disclosed that the value of tenders awarded to these groups jumped 470 percent to Sh3.5 billion in the year under review as the firm stepped up efforts to meet the constitutional requirement.
The Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015, compels State corporations to allocate 30 percent of their tenders to these three groups under Agpo, as part of economic affirmative action that was launched more than a decade ago.
Agpo targets deals that are not highly technical, such as the supply of common-user items and basic services. This means the groups automatically miss out in any year when a State agency focuses more on highly technical projects.
Out of the Sh3.5 billion worth of deals awarded under Agpo, youth-owned businesses took Sh2.2 billion, followed by women-owned businesses with Sh1.25 billion, and persons with disabilities with Sh66.7 million.
Kenya Power is one of the State-owned firms whose tendering under Agpo for the year ended June 2025 has already been scrutinised by the Auditor-General.
Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) disclosed that it awarded Sh2.23 billion in deals under Agpo against a target of Sh2.57 billion in the year ended June 2025.
