CS Mbadi tells off Parliament amid clash with Governors over new e-procurement system

Confusion has gripped the transition to the electronic government procurement system championed by the National Treasury, with the Council of Governors now demanding that Treasury revert to the previous procurement system or face litigation.

National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has, however, dismissed Parliament’s move to annul a circular mandating all public institutions to use the electronic system, insisting that only the Cabinet can overturn such a government directive.

CS Mbadi says those opposing the transition are individuals keen on manipulating the procurement system for selfish interests.

The dispute brewing between the Executive and the National Assembly comes a week after MPs unanimously endorsed a report by the Delegated Legislation Committee to annul a circular requiring all government agencies to procure goods and services exclusively through the new electronic government procurement system (e-GP).

“I was hired to bring change. Parliament vetted me, and I told them I would implement e-procurement and they applauded me for it. So how can Parliament now turn around and say the move violates the Constitution? They should show me where,” stated Mbadi.

Speaking at the Deputy President's residence in Karen during the 13th Development Partnership Forum on Enhancing Effective Development Co-operation, CS Mbadi said the e-procurement directive remains intact and Parliament has no power to revoke it.

Mbadi said: “I issued a circular for the adoption of e-procurement and that is still the position until Cabinet revokes it. I did not present anything to Parliament for revocation.”

Mbadi cautioned that attempts to undermine the system are being pushed by individuals with vested interests in manual tendering processes, noting that opposition to the new system is rooted in efforts to preserve corruption loopholes.

“They want us to go back to manual so they can manipulate tenders by plucking papers,” said the CS.

Deputy President Kithure Kindiki acknowledged challenges facing some county governments and national government agencies, including his own office, but emphasised that the issues must be resolved, not used as an excuse to return to manual procurement.

Council of Governors Chairperson Ahmed Abdullahi, on his part, acknowledged the crisi,s stating: “We have a crisis regarding e-procurement. Something operationally is not adding up, and we might end up not absorbing any funding.”

DP Kithure Kindiki added: “We agree that counties and even my office are experiencing challenges on e-procurement. But we must resolve them, because we will never accept going back to the manual system.”

Despite attending the Karen event, Wajir Governor and Chair of the Council of Governors, Ahmed Abdulllahi, later released a statement warning the National Treasury that the council will sue them should they not reconfigure the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMIS) to enable county governments to upload their procurement plans as per the previous regime.

At the moment, counties can only do so if their procurement plans are on the electronic system.

According to CS Mbadi, 31 counties have submitted budgets and received clearance from the Controller of Budget, four counties are ready to upload on the e-GP system, while 27 counties are finalising their submissions.

“Once the POs are prepared, we lock the budget. That means when you make payments, they align with the purchase orders. This eliminates cases where you procure but can’t pay because the budget was used elsewhere,” Mbadi said.

In a statement, the governors said the transition has been hasty, incomplete and marred with inconsistencies, causing confusion and paralysis across procuring entities.

The Governors are now relying on Parliament’s nullification of the Treasury circular to demand a return to the previous status quo.