Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi, has said the government would not provide exemptions for the electronic Government Procurement (eGP), system from the next financial year, signaling a full rollout of the digital procurement platform across all government institutions.
Speaking during an interview on Sunday evening, April 12, Mbadi, said the government is tightening procurement systems to eliminate loopholes that have led to the loss of public funds and increased pressure on the national treasury.
“If we can have a system like eGP, which is rolled out fully, we can close these procurement loopholes. I know we gave some exemptions this year, and I am saying this today, next financial year, there will be no exemptions for eGP,” Mbadi stated.
The electronic Government Procurement (eGP) system is a digital platform designed to manage procurement processes across government institutions, from tender advertisement and bidding to evaluation and payments.
He noted, procurement is the one of the areas where funds are lost, especially through inflated costs during validation of goods and services and the government has implement the system as part of wider public finance reforms and some institutions temporarily exempted.
“Where we waste money is actually on the procurement side, where instead of procuring a hall for Ksh15,000, you procure for Ksh50,000, and the surplus is shared in between,” he said.
He stated the government is facing limited space to reduce expenditure, raising wage pressure, Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs), and demands from the security sector. Mbadi, defended the supplementary budget saying they are necessary due to limited donor- funded projects.
