Many state corporations have defied President Uhuru Kenyatta's directive to publish all tender details on the government portal that is accessible to all Kenyans.
A spot check by Nation established that even after Deputy President William Ruto's threat, the entries on www.tenders.go.ke increased by only by 20 per cent.
The figures compiled by the local daily show an increase of 1,901 new listings compared to the 9,036 tenders that had been listed at the time of Ruto's threat.
“I want to reiterate here that the President’s announcement was not a request but a demand that should be complied with immediately,” Ruto had declared in January.
In the executive order No. 2 of 2018, President Kenyatta directed government agencies to disclose the identities of all the companies they are doing business with, including their directorship, and have the information posted on their websites.
The DP directed Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich to compile a list of the agencies and hand it over to Public Service head Joseph Kinyua within 30 days for action to be taken.
One of the sanctions that were supposed to be imposed on the defiant firms is freezing or scaling down budgetary allocation.
“You need to disclose who is doing business with the government to the public for the purposes of accountability,” Ruto emphasised.
Kenyans will have to see whether the sanctions will be implemented when CS Rotich reads the Budget Policy Statement for the 2019/20 financial year.
Treasury PS Kamau Thugge announced that the CS will present the budget to Parliament on June 13.
"This is to notify the general public that the Budget Statement for the Fiscal Year 2019/20 Budget will be delivered by the Cabinet Secretary, National Treasury and Planning, in the National Assembly on Thursday, the 13th June, 2019 at 3:00p.m," read the communique on the ministry's website.
