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{
    "id": 610864,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/610864/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 222,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Katoo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 199,
        "legal_name": "Judah Katoo Ole-Metito",
        "slug": "judah-ole-metito"
    },
    "content": "In the Government, commodities and services are a direct cost to the taxpayers. Therefore, procurement officials are obliged to obtain the best possible quality and price. This has been specified in the Bill. Another important clause in the Bill is Clause 90, which provides for open tendering, which shall be preferred in terms of procurement methods for the procurement of goods, works and non-consultancy services. In Clause 91, there are several forms of tendering. For instance, there is direct procurement or direct tendering; this is where, in most cases, corruption comes in. It is important that when direct procurement is used as a method of procuring, all the firms from which the tenderers have sought goods and services should also form a good representation. There should be a wide sample of all the potential bidders in the market that is concerned. There should be no restrictions for administrative concerns. There should be enough reasons for using that form of tendering. This Bill also tries to address overpricing in the market, especially in the public sector. When we are procuring, some people under-price and then they win a tender, then later on they engage in a lot of variations, saying that there have been some unforeseen expenses. Clause 44 tries to define the primary responsibilities of an Accounting Officer to be ensuring that public entities comply with the Act and try to stop any form of overpricing that may arise. That is why it was said that all procurement entities should remain within the approved budget and stop over-pricing. This is a way of siphoning the taxpayers’ money. You will remember that on 13th August last year, His Excellency the President, Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta, launched the Electronic Procurement and Payment System, with a call to all public servants to embrace transparency, accountability and prudent use of public resources to ensure that Kenyans receive quality services. This Bill is trying to emphasize that. We should stick to that and make Kenya a more attractive destination for investment. The Bill is also going to encourage more local suppliers to increase their sales through Government contracts. When these contracting authorities are inviting bidders, they should ensure that recently established firms without previous experience in public contracts are not excluded from the invitation to tender. These firms should be helped to grow. They should be encouraged by allowing them to tender for small contracts initially and then, subject to satisfactory performance, they can progressively go to larger, or more complex, contracts. If you look at Part I of the Bill, there are new important provisions. For example, new procuring entities have been introduced. The constitutional and independent offices have now been allowed to be procuring entities. The county governments that were not procuring entities before are now allowed to procure within counties. Diplomatic missions and pension funds for public entities are also now allowed to procure. That is a transformation which is very important. In Part II, between Clauses 7 and 32, many national organs have been given some clear roles to avoid overlapping. For example, the roles of the National Treasury have been explained by the Mover. We have the roles of the Public Procurement and Oversight Authority, its advisory Board and the Public Procurement and Administrative Review Board clearly explained in the Bill. This will help when there will be complaints as one The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}