Uhuru: New portal to publicise government procurement, tendering

The Kenya government has frozen all new projects until the current ones are completed and a new portal to publicise government procurement and tendering launched.

On Friday, President Uhuru Kenyatta issued the directive freezing all new government projects until the ongoing ones are completed.

He also warned all government accounting officers that they would be held responsible if they sanction new projects without express authority from the National Treasury

The President said the directive is aimed at stopping wastage of resources and the habit of government agencies abandoning incomplete projects before jumping onto others.

“There will be no new projects that will be embarked on until you complete those that are ongoing,” said the President.

Kenyatta was speaking at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in a meeting with government accounting officers. These included Principal Secretaries, Parastatal Heads, Vice Chancellors of Public Universities and Chairmen of State Corporations.

Only projects directly aligned to the Big Four Agenda might be exempt from the freeze but there must be a written authorisation from the National Treasury.

“Even if new projects are aligned to the Big Four they cannot be started without express authority from CS or PS of the National Treasury,” said President Kenyatta.

At the same time, President Kenyatta announced that the government will soon launch a new internet portal where all government procurement will be publicised.

Kenyatta said all procurements, tenders and contracts will be advertised on the portal to create transparency in order to safeguard public resources from theft.

“All procurement officers have been taken through the operations of the portal and they have given their feedback. The portal will be launched soon,” he added.

President Kenyatta added that the portal will help create accountability because Kenyans will be able to see the processes followed in the awarding of tenders.

In June, Treasury launched a Project Disclosure Portal to provide stakeholders with information on the various stages of implementation.

Through the portal, citizens, investors, media, civil society, government agencies and development partners will access information on all stages of a project: from project concepts to feasibility study reports, including which advisory group was retained to provide government advice on a particular project.

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