Governors are awarding tenders worth millions to their friends, wives, girlfriends and family members. So there clearly is not enough oversight.
All I can say is that there needs to be stronger oversight. IMO Funds for a project should only be disbursed to a county when certain criteria has been met e.g.

1. It has been established that the public will benefit from the project (Build a business case or a social case)
2. The project details were published. There was a competitive bidding process.
3. There is no conflict of interest in selecting the Contractor

If the set criteria is not met, funds should not be disbursed. Furthermore, counties should be audited on an ongoing basis. Preferably by an independent accounting firm. It should not be left to MCAs to impeach the governor.

Court cases are not of much use. I doubt that either Aisha Jumwa or Okoth Obado or Waititu or any of the other thieves will lose the money they stole. And how often does a politician go to jail for corruption. Basically there is no deterrent. If you steal, you will likely get away with it. At worst you will be impeached but still keep the money you stole.

And as someone pointed out, this issue doesn't just affect money going to counties. It also affects ministries. Something is fundamentally wrong with the tender process in this country. Again the president can fix this issue but he is asleep.

Then how did Waititu's wives and daughters end up with 10 tenders worth Ksh 18 million in a space of 3 months?
https://nation.africa/ke...fe-and-daughters-234848



Then you don't understand the meaning of conflict of interest. This is one of the issues holding Kenya back. If you award tenders to friends, they will likely get away with providing shoddy overpriced products.

And what book are you talking about? There is no book. There is no competitive bidding as far as I can see. If there was, there is no way a governors friend can win a contract. Such contracts would always go to big companies that can provide products cheaper through economies of scale.

Why for example should Nyokabi Muthama's company get a tender to provide K95 masks? Wouldn't it cheaper for KEMSA to source them directly from the manufacturer? Also KEMSA can enforce quality standards if they work directly with the manufacturer.


Thats exactly the problem. Devolution should have included oversight. All devolution has done is to spread corruption from the centre to 50 different centres.



This is the Fire Brigade approach where you wait until the building is on fire before you douse it with water. Instead of this approach, we should prevent the corruption from happening through proper oversight. Instead of waiting for Waititu and others to irregularly award tenders, there should be oversight to prevent the corruption from happening. Oversight is far more efficient and far more cost effective than trying to use the ill-equipped judiciary or the EACC to fight corruption. It is more cost effective to prevent corruption from happening than to react to it

In Kenya, Tender Committee is appointed by he county secretary who in turn reports to the governor

So when Waititu wants to award a contract to his daughter, he doesn't need to bribe anybody. He can simply appoint people who will do his bidding. Those who don't will be fired. Thats whats wrong with our system. Thats what I mean by NO OVERSIGHT.

Therefore these tender committees you keep talking about are useless. Its like asking a criminal to police himself.



The bolded part is very funny. I am starting to wonder if you live in Kenya. Do you actually expect Kenyan politicians to obey the law? Kenyan politicians have been acting with impunity since 1963. I feel like I am reading the thoughts of a person who lives in Scandinavia where everything is done properly and everyone obeys the law.


Again do you live in Kenya? The Kenyan judiciary is the most innefficient. And in my life I don't recall Kenyan politicians going to jail for corruption. It will never happen. The best way to address this issue is to put in place structures that will prevent governors from engaging in corruption. Its more cost efficient and more realistic.

I explained this in a previous post which I am guessing you did not read. So let me repeat my proposal.

Funds should be disbursed only when certain criteria has been met. There needs to be One National INDEPENDENT REVIEW BOARD not 50 different county tender committees.
If a governor wants to initiate a project the following must happen

1. Governor submits proposal to board
2. Board reviews proposal for feasibility, business need and social need
3. If Board approves project, Governor publishes proposal and accepts public bids and selects bidder
4. Board reviews the bid to ensure technical competence and to ensure the costs are appropriate
5. Board disburses funds


Its a very simple process. It will prevent governor from giving tenders to his wife or kids. It will eliminate frivolous projects. And there will be no need for court cases. Similar processes are used in the private sector and by various governments across the world. I don't understand why Kenya cannot adopt a similar process.

I highlighted the word INDEPENDENT because those County tender committees you spoke of are not independent. They basically report to the governor.

In this proposal, the governor will have no choice but to follow the proper procedure. If he doesn't then he doesn't get any funds

You can't possibly be serious. If there is already as much oversight as you are claiming, then how the heck does Waititu end up giving his own daughter a contract for millions? Did he bribe all those people you named: Finance Officer, Auditor General, MCAs . How did Okoth Obado pocket millions in counrt money? Clearly there is no oversight.

The problem with people like you is that you seem to trust elected officials. I don't. Politicians by their nature cannot be relied on for any kind of oversight. Many are poorly educated. Most are corrupt. In kenya today, everyone who runs for elected office runs because there is plenty of money to be made. Not because they are qualified or are eager to make the country better. Yet people like you keep thinking that politicians will solve our issues.

If it were up to me I would propose the creation of a scaled down version of the National Audit Office (NAO) that exists in the UK and is responsible for auditing public finances. It could be staffed by real technocrats, people with corporate experience and appropriate credentials. This was established as far back as 500 years ago. Here were are in 2020 and Mwafrika still has not seen the need for such an institution. Instead of creating institutions and structures that make us better, we instead invest heavily in paying senators, MCAs, governors and former presidents hefty salaries. These are the reasons Africa is a sheet-hole.

An NAO type organization would save a lot of money. All that money the govt wastes in useless court cases. And again it would require a president who genuinely wants to fight corruption.

What you are saying is NOT the truth. There was nothing sophisticated about what Waititu did. All he did was award tenders to companies called Suwanga Ltd and another called Modiba Ltd. The companys are registered in his daughter's name and his wife's name. The companies were created after he was elected. There is nothing sophisticated about that. In fact no complex investigation was even needed. A standard 6 pupil can see this fraud.

For example, Suwanga was paid ksh 2.3 million to supply tyres for two cars. Do you really think this kind of fraud is sophisticated enough to require an expensive investigation?

This is the kind of thing that can be prevented if Waititu was required to create a basic proposal document. You are just being difficult and peddling inaccurate info. Waititu can never be accused of being sophisticated.

Saying that nothing can stop a thief is precisely why we are a sheet-hole country. Every country has thieves. What stops them is the creation of structures and institutions.

Are you not seeing it that nothing stops a thief from stealing. Not laws - they will break them, not boards, they bribe them. It just has to do with the morality of the society.

Uhuru gave a presidential directive stating that all tenders won should be published with the names of directors listed nani anamskiza? Even some days ago he repeated this and its almost like a joke now.

For why tenders read chapter 12 - Part 6 Control of public money- 225 - 226 - 227 of the constitution.

Kenya is not unique. Every country has thieves. In fact other countries have thieves who are much more sophisticated than our politicians.

The difference is that other countries created structures, procedures and institutions to reduce corruption. Some like the UK started 500 years ago.

You cannot completely eradicate corruption. You can REDUCE IT. You do this by creating structures, institutions and procedures.

An independent board will reduce corruption. As you saw in the last election, Justice Maraga did not succumb to threats or bribery from the candidates. He did the right thing because he has some Independence.

As you can see, the private sector has much less corruption because big companies have structures in place to reduce corruption.

As for tenders, the solution is simple. We don't need tenders. Just eliminate the tender process and ask counties to buy directly from reputable established firms.

This is all simple stuff that a primary school kid can envision. We have to start somewhere. If we just give up as you are suggesting then Africa is doomed to remain the laughing stock of the world forever.