Treasury Told to Enforce 30 Percent Procurement Rule for Youth, Women and PWDs

By Mbungu Harrison

Email, thecoastnewspaper@gmail.com

The National Treasury has been urged to tighten enforcement of the 30 per cent public procurement allocation reserved for youth, women and persons with disabilities, with the government considering using digital systems to block entities that fail to meet the requirement.

Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service Felix Koskei said the treasury should review the Electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) and Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) platforms to flag entities that fail to comply with the mandatory allocation.

Koskei said the systems should, where necessary, restrict new procurement commitments by non-compliant entities during budget planning and implementation.

He said the move would help address the slow implementation of the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO) programme and ensure that public procurement creates meaningful opportunities for disadvantaged groups.

The directive was issued on Tuesday, August 10, 2026 during the fifth Heads of Procurement and Supply Chain Management Conference in Mombasa, held under the theme, “From Procurement Spend to Public Value: Advancing National Impact Through Professional Excellence.”

In a speech read by Public Investments and Asset Management Principal Secretary Cyrell Odede Wagunda, Mr Koskei challenged procurement professionals to move beyond passive monitoring of compliance and embrace strict enforcement, including automated measures.

He also called for better authentication and support for legitimate businesses participating in AGPO, while urging the government to consider extending the requirement to contractors and suppliers dealing with the state.

The head public service said public procurement should no longer be judged primarily by the lowest price offered, but by the long-term value generated from every shilling spent.

He urged procurement officers to consider durability, maintenance requirements and whole-life costs when evaluating bids, warning that seemingly cheap goods could become expensive because of frequent repairs or replacement.

“Your work as procurement professionals ultimately determines whether government promises become government performance,” he Koskei said.

He challenged professionals to uphold impartiality, fairness and accountability in the discharge of their duties, warning against conflicts of interest, collusion and biased specifications.

Mr Koskei said professional integrity should be viewed not only as a legal obligation but also as a patriotic duty.

“Your work as procurement professionals ultimately determines whether government promises become government performance,” he said.

He said procurement professionals had a responsibility to ensure public spending translated into tangible improvements in the lives of citizens.

“The true value of procurement is found in the number of hospitals equipped; schools built; businesses empowered; jobs created; communities transformed; and lives improved,” he said.

He said such outcomes represented the true meaning of public value and should be the ultimate measure of success for procurement professionals.

The head further urged procurement officers to embrace green procurement by incorporating environmental criteria, climate resilience, circular economy principles and responsible sourcing into tenders.

He said public procurement, which accounts for an estimated 10 to 13 per cent of Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product, could be used as a strategic tool to support local industries, create jobs and improve public services.

According to him the e-GP system would strengthen procurement data, improve supplier access and enhance transparency.

However, he cautioned that technology alone could not replace integrity, fairness and accountability.

“Conflicts of interest must be declared. Collusion must be rejected. Specifications must be objective. Competition must be genuine. Professional ethics must never be compromised.”

He challenged procurement professionals to rethink conventional approaches and ensure their decisions generated measurable benefits for citizens.

He said procurement success should ultimately be reflected in functioning hospitals, completed roads, equipped schools, farmers accessing fertiliser, businesses securing opportunities and communities benefiting from public investment.

He congratulated the Kenya Institute of Supplies Management (KISM) for its efforts to strengthen the profession before declaring the 2026 Heads of Procurement and Supply Chain Management Conference officially open.

KISM chairperson Jennifer Cirindi called for stricter professional standards saying every supply chain management department should be staffed by registered and licensed practitioners.

She urged heads of procurement to enforce a second level of compliance focused on professional conduct, saying registration alone was not sufficient to guarantee public confidence in the profession.

“I therefore ask to uphold compliance of practice, we have some of the members who have tainted the profession through bad practice. I urge all to embrace accountability and integrity,” she said.

She said procurement professionals had to protect the reputation of the sector by ensuring that ethical standards were observed at every stage of the procurement process.

KISM chief executive Kenneth Matiba said the Institute had expanded its membership to more than 28,600 professionals and was targeting 40,000 members by 2029.

He said KISM had also secured World Bank financing to support institutional transformation over the next three years.

The funding, he said, would support efforts to strengthen compliance and enforcement, expand digital services, increase scholarships and enhance training on the e-GP system.

Principal secretary Wagunda, who represented Mr Koskei at the Mombasa conference, encouraged procurement and supply chain professionals to embrace professionalism and standardised practices in the management of public resources.

The conference brought together heads of procurement and supply chain management to discuss ways of transforming public procurement from a process focused on expenditure into a tool for delivering measurable national development outcomes.