State-to-State deals returning Kenya to dark days of opaque procurement

Kenya has come a long way in formulating procurement laws. Public procurement in the country has been marred by allegations and counter-allegations of unethical practices despite the many reforms.

The spirit behind the reforms was to increase fairness, transparency and accountability, maximise economy and efficiency, promote competition and to increase public confidence in public procurement.

As the saying goes, old habits die hard. Lack of accountability and transparency, corruption, poor planning and lack of fair competition where the State manipulated procurement is creeping back, but this time through legislations such as the government-to-government (G-to-G) agreements, including the oil deal Kenya signed.

G-to-G procurements are exempt from the provisions of the law and undermine the spirit of Article 227 of the Constitution.

The exclusion leads to direct procurement of goods and services without a proper oversight.

For instance, G-to-G procurement was used in the procurement of the Biometric Voter Registration kits for the 2013 Kenyan general elections, where the Auditor General revealed that the public lost about Sh4 billion.

Democracy requires an informed citizenry and transparency to tame corruption by valuing what oversight institutions do to inject accountability.

However, the opacity surrounding G-to-G oil deals can limit the effectiveness of oversight.

G-to-G oil deals, by their very nature, involve closed-door negotiations, making it challenging for other stakeholders to scrutinise the terms of these agreements.

Reduced transparency can lead to inflated costs, poor quality, and negative economic consequences.

Striking a balance between the potential benefits of G-to-G agreements and the need to uphold principles of fairness and accountability is crucial to maintaining the integrity of public procurement.

It is, therefore, imperative for the State to be mindful of the concerns about transparency and adherence to procurement laws. Striking a balance between expediency and accountability produces integrity in buying.

The writer is a procurement and contract management consultant.