The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) is on the spot after Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah raised concerns over a 'secretive' currency printing deal involving a German firm.
Omtatah, who was speaking in Senate on Tuesday, questioned the legality and transparency of the Ksh14.5 billion currency printing tender awarded to Giesecke & Devrient.
According to the outspoken Senator, the tendering and awarding process did not have the necessary oversight and did not follow procurement laws.
“The Auditor-General flagged irregularities including failure to appoint a special procurement committee and bypassing open competition without valid grounds of urgency or national security,” the Senator said.
Omtatah also called on the Senate Finance and Budget Committee to interrogate the matter fully.
According to Omtatah, the committee should benchmark the printing tender against past contracts so as to find out whether due process was followed. He also warned that the deal, if allowed to hold unchecked, would undermine public confidence.
“We must safeguard the integrity of Kenya’s procurement framework, especially where large sums of public resources are at stake,” he told the House.
In the 2024 Auditor-General’s report, CBK failed to comply with several key provisions, including oversight by the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA), supplier vetting, and formation of a special procurement committee, thereby raising key questions on the process.
CBK Response
While CBK defended the decision and cited approvals from the National Security Council and the Treasury, Omtatah maintained that the regulator was not a national security organ. As thus, he said, CBK needed not to rely on security justifications to avoid open competition in the process.
According to Omtatah, the country saved money in 2005 when a similar tender was awarded under an open process. He also questioned why CBK opted for single-sourcing despite proof that a transparent process would have been cheaper.
Documents from the Auditor-General reveal the contract was signed on April 22, 2024.
Despite CBK obtaining clearance from Treasury in January 2024, auditors said that it did not meet the requirements under Regulation 84 of the 2020 Procurement Regulations. Failure to conduct a proper supplier identification and assessment exercise during the process being key.
The auditors also revealed that CBK did not form any special procurement committee despite this being a mandatory step for classified procurements.
The oversight gaps, according to the audit, cast doubt on whether the deal was in the best interest of Kenyan taxpayers.
CBK Governor Dr Kamau had revealed in August 2024 that a German firm had been contracted to print Kenya’s currency, though he did not disclose its identity at the time.
