Governors decry e-procurement crisis as Kindiki calls for aligned priorities

Deputy President Kithure Kindiki outlined key areas that both levels of government should prioritise.

Deputy President Kithure Kindiki has urged county governments to align their development priorities with those of the national government to ensure a unified approach to economic growth.

Speaking on Monday during the ordinary session of the Intergovernmental Budget and Economic Council (IBEC) at his official residence in Karen, Kindiki stressed the need for a coordinated economic strategy.

“We must look at the economy as an integrated whole. Therefore, the priority issues that we are implementing should not be different between the national and county governments,” he said.

During the same meeting, the Council of Governors (CoG) raised alarm over the rollout of the e-Government Procurement (EGP) system, warning that it has left counties grounded with delayed salaries, unpaid contractors, and stalled services.

CoG Chairperson Ahmed Abdullahi said the new procurement system, introduced by the government, has worsened what is usually a slow first quarter into a “disastrous” one.

“Q1 generally is difficult because of the rollover from one fiscal year to the next. But this quarter one is disastrous because we’ve not been able to spend money at all on account of the challenges we’ve had,” Abdullahi noted.

He added that some governors cannot pay staff after their budgets were wrongly mapped in the system, effectively freezing them out of transactions. 

The situation has also forced contractors, fuel suppliers, and municipal service providers to withdraw their services due to delayed payments, crippling counties further.

Abdullahi further faulted policymakers for what he termed a Nairobi-centric approach that fails to consider the diversity of counties, warning that the crisis threatens delivery of essential services.