Deputy President Kithure Kindiki has ruled out the use of manual systems in government procurement, insisting the process will remain fully electronic, despite resistance from some quarters.

Kindiki, responding to concerns raised by Council of Governors chair Ahmed Abdullahi, said challenges with manual systems run deep across national government agencies, including his own office.

Speaking on Thursday, August 28, during the 13th Development Partnership Forum in Karen, the deputy president said e-procurement enhances transparency and accountability and warned there would be no reversal.

“We will not revert to the manual procurement system whatsoever, so we must work to remove the challenges not just for county governments, but for the national government agency too,” said Kindiki.

He also defended the use of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) for both national and county governments, saying it would help curb the misuse of public funds.

“Government resources must be kept at the Central Bank. Many agencies have been keeping money belonging to Kenyans in commercial banks, earning interest that is unaccounted for. We must move to the single treasury account, and no amount of pushback will make it change,” he reiterated. 

Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi, who also attended the forum, accused some lawmakers of misleading the public on calls to revoke the e-procurement system.

“I want to ask: when we were implementing IFMIS as an accounting system, why wasn’t it revoked? I have issued a circular on zero-based budgeting on the treasury singular account, but when I issue one on e-procurement, people have a problem with it,” posed Mbadi. 

“It is because they have interests in procurement. They want to go back to when they could pluck papers from tender documents. That we are not going to allow. I was hired to bring change,” he added.