Reports have revealed that as much as the tendering process in government offices were moved online a few years ago, the system at National Youth Service (NYS) is still designed to have maximum human input in the process.
An investigative piece done by the Standard on the tendering process divulged that for one to be awarded a tender, they have to go through seven stages.
One had to first get a tender requisition from the service, then acquire an approval from a finance officer before the tender is evaluated by a procurement committee.
It is, therefore, after the procurement committee's approval that the goods and services are then delivered to the service.
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After goods have been delivered , an inspection is then done, before a voucher is handed to the supplier.
The voucher is then validated before payment is done through the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK).
However, a process which should ideally run smoothly has been marred by corruption as all people in the chain are alleged to always demand bribes before the process can be moved to the next stage.
A supplier who spoke to the Standard exclaimed: "This is how it goes. An official calls you, based on the people you know, and asks if you can supply some goods, and that’s it. The deal is completed on phone.
"The longer route is to pass through all the tendering stages, but then you will have to bribe everyone along the chain and still pay the 10 percent from what you receive in the end. That is the rule," he stated.
Additionally, it was discovered that the process is so bad to an extent that at the NYS headquarters, some employees have resorted to hawking payment vouchers to the highest bidder whenever there are funds for the purpose.
This has been established in the wake of the recent Ksh9 billion scandal which has seen senior government officials assert that the culprits will not be spared and they will be brought to book.
Deputy President William Ruto on Friday noted: "Stiff penalties must be meted out to stop such acts. We cannot be losing money to corrupt individuals at the expense of development of the country.”
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