Governors to Challenge Ruto & Mbadi in Court

The Council of Governors has vowed to challenge in court the directive by President William Ruto and Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi requiring counties to mandatorily adopt the Electronic Government Procurement (eGP) system.
Council of Governors (CoG) chairperson Ahmed Abdullahi, speaking during an interview onCitizen TVon Tuesday night, said that all attempts to have Treasury withdraw the circular on the directive had failed, leaving them with no choice but to seek legal redress.
According to Abdullahi, the eGP system was piloted in three counties that include Elgeyo Marakwet, Busia, and Makueni, but failed to function as expected. He argued that despite the challenges experienced during the pilot phase, the system was hurriedly rolled out nationally without addressing the gaps identified.
He explained that governors are unable to procure essential goods and services because of the directive, warning that the situation has paralysed service delivery in devolved units. He insisted that had the rollout been handled properly, counties would not be facing the current challenges.
“As CoG, we are moving to court because we have asked the CS to withdraw the circular, and it hasn’t been withdrawn. We are frozen in every respect; we can’t procure. This has blocked service delivery. The e-procurement system was hurried and has disrupted service delivery,” he stated.
The CoG chairperson also accused the national government of unfairly portraying counties as wastage hubs, pointing out that corruptionchallenges are equally rampant at the national level.
He maintained that governors bear political responsibility for systems under them but are not directly in charge of supply chain management.
“There is a bit of gaslighting in the Kenyan public against devolution. If procurement worked right in the national government and it were graft-free, we would not be having a crisis. Governors run bureaucracies, but the excuse used to impose these directives is wastage in counties, which is not always the case,” he said.
Abdullahi further noted that the Public Procurement Act currently permits both manual and electronic procurement. He argued that before making the eGP system mandatory, the law ought to have been amended to align with the directive.
He urged the government to ensure that the system functions effectively before compelling counties to adopt it.
Meanwhile, according to Mbadi, some counties, as well as ill-intentioned government officials within ministries, state departments, and agencies (MDAs), have been attempting to secretly reintroduce the manual procurement system despite theTreasury’s directive that all must migrate to the digital platform.
President William Ruto also, while speaking over the weekend, dared government officials opposed to the system to consider quitting his administration.