Economy

William Ruto moves to enforce tender disclosure directive

ruto

Deputy President William Ruto. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Deputy President William Ruto has directed all public entities to publish information on beneficiaries of government tenders to avoid sanctions. 

Dr Ruto, who was speaking at the Open Governance Partnerships forum on Monday, asked Treasury to submit list of all public bodies who have defied the government order on tender disclosure to the Head of Public Service within 30 days. 

Mr Ruto’s remarks are based on an executive order issued by President Uhuru Kenyatta mid last year requiring all government entities to publish full details of tenders. 

According to the DP, the entities that are yet to comply risk sanctions, including freezing or scaling down of budgetary allocations. 

“You need to disclose who is doing business with the government to the public for the purposes of accountability,” Mr Ruto said, adding; “It was not a request but a demand that all public bodies publish the details.”

“Those that are yet to comply are the ones holding us back in the war against corruption,” the DP said. 

Transparency

Treasury CS Henry Rotich, who spoke at the same event, stressed that all tenders must be done online to ensure there is transparency.

“If we automate procurement, all these stories about corruption will disappear. This is the way to go,” Mr Rotich said.​

The president issued the order to trim procurement corruption by allowing members of the public to scrutinise details of deals, including goods and services purchased by government entities, cost and suppliers.

Since last year, the number of tenders published online in compliance the Mr Kenyatta’s directive has increased threefold.

The online portal, which was established in July, listed 7,805 tenders worth Sh55.79 billion that were awarded to 4,477 registered suppliers.

This represents a 204 per cent increase compared with the 2,566 tenders worth Sh23.23 billion listed in September.

But many state agencies continue to defy the directive.​