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Kenyan leader asks officials to adopt e-procurement to cut tender graft

Xinhua, March 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday directed government agencies to adopt the e- procurement system within a week to enhance transparency in how tenders are awarded.

Kenyatta said government officials should immediately adhere to the requirement to use an open process to reduce chances for corruption and entrench transparency and value for money for services and good procured by government entities.

"I am reminding government officials that they are left with one week and all those in charge of Government agencies will be held personally responsible if they fail to adopt the e- procurement system," he said.

Electronic procurement introduces a new era to public procurement by ending the manual procurement challenges the country has experienced in the past.

This will increase control and visibility over the entire life cycle of a procurement transaction from procurement, planning to payment.

The e-procurement also ensures that procurement of goods and services is done fairly, equitably competitively and in a cost effective manner.

Kenyatta said the objective was to make government procurement processes open to scrutiny by the public so that everyone can know how a tender was awarded.

The President had last week directed top government officials to ensure all agencies under them have gone on the online platform within two weeks.

"Our objective is to ensure all procurements are made public for citizens to see the transparency of the process," he said in Nairobi when he launched an Integrated Population Registration System (IPRS).

Procurement of goods and services constitute about 50 percent of the government's annual budget and the e-procurement platform will save substantial financial resources and help in instilling confidence among taxpayers that they are getting value for their money

The system will strengthen the Government-supplier relationship by providing easy access to information and documentation, simplify the bidding process and ensure cost saving for the Government and taxpayers.

The IPRS is a system that will create a single database on all people residing in Kenya to make it easier for service delivery and verification of identity to improve security. Endi