Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang'o has urged county governments to embrace the Electronic Government Procurement System (e-GPS) despite implementation challenges.
Speaking on Thursday, September 4, Nyakang'o acknowledged that the system's rollout had not been adequately managed but called on counties to make the best of the situation.
"We need eGPS, even though the change has not been managed properly, and therefore it is going to create many problems,” Nyakang'o said. “No one is safe, not me, not the Auditor General, not Parliament, everybody is involved. Now, so what must we do? We must make the best of a bad situation.”
The Controller of Budget used a cooking analogy to illustrate her point about working with available resources.
"So if you are cooking a dish and you find that you have five ingredients out of seven, do you stop cooking the dish so people are hungry because you will say, I don't have this particular spice? No, you will still try to make a bowl of soup so people don't sleep hungry. So can we try to make the best of a bad situation?" she said.
Read More
Nyakang'o outlined the first steps counties should take to implement the system.
"And the first thing, the starting point to eGPS, is to have a budget. Once we have the budget and it is on IFMIS, please register with the system and register the people who are going to operate it," she said.
Her remarks come amid strong opposition from county governors who have demanded the immediate suspension of the e-GP system.
On Monday, September 1, the Council of Governors released a statement expressing concerns about the digital procurement platform's implementation.
The governors argued that the system undermines county governments' constitutional status and lacks a proper legal foundation. They claimed that insufficient consultation and stakeholder engagement preceded the system's launch.
According to the governors, only three counties participated in pilot testing, yet the system was rolled out nationally without addressing identified issues.
They also cited inadequate training and sensitization as factors that have disrupted procurement processes.
The opposition to the e-GP system has put county governments at odds with Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi, who has been pushing for full adoption of the digital platform.
Mbadi had suggested that resistance to the system stems from preferences for manual processes that may facilitate procurement irregularities.
