The Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Budget has directed the County Government of Wajir and the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) to work together to address procurement documentation gaps and strengthen transparency in the county’s procurement processes.

Appearing before the committee on Thursday, June 4, 2026, Wajir Governor Ahmed Abdullahi defended his administration’s procurement record, explaining that the county encountered technical challenges while uploading its 2022-2023 procurement plan to the Public Procurement Information Portal (PPIP).

The Governor reassured the Senator Ali Roba-led Committee that subsequent records for the financial years 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 had been uploaded successfully, with a total of 763 tenders currently published in the system.

To ensure maximum transparency, the county exclusively utilised open tenders and requests for quotations, recording zero contract variations or tender terminations during that period.

Pending payments

​Addressing a complaint regarding a pending payment for the construction of an X-ray unit at TB Manyata, Governor Abdullahi explained that the delay was tied to a massive historical debt portfolio inherited by his administration.

He noted that the county has been methodically settling these claims under strict verification protocols.

​”The position of the county government is that we have taken the agency’s recommendations very seriously,” Governor Abdullahi stated. “Our inherited pending bill problem is unique among the 47 counties. We actually inherited a situation of incomplete records, where it was not even possible to know what was the actual figure of genuine pending bills. We resorted to actual verification before payment, and we have been addressing these obligations on a first-in, first-out basis.”

Senators acknowledged the importance of completing the medical facility, noting that tuberculosis remains a significant public health challenge in Kenya. They further observed that the procurement reporting shortcomings appeared to be the result of administrative and communication lapses rather than financial impropriety.

Committee members described the uploading of procurement records as a routine administrative exercise that could be resolved through direct cooperation between the county government and the regulator without requiring costly follow-up processes.

In its final directive, the committee ordered Wajir County to upload all manually submitted procurement records for the 2022-2023 financial year onto the PPIP system to guarantee permanent public access.

“It is important for you, actually more than anybody else, because complaints can come after you’ve left office, to secure those documents and upload them rather than having shared them manually. Just have your team upload the documents,” Senator Roba directed.

The PPRA was similarly urged to establish direct, modern communication channels, including utilising the official email address of the Wajir County Secretary, to eliminate lost or delayed physical postal correspondence in the future.