Senator Sigei defends e-procurement system amid rising resistance
By Joel Masibo, September 2, 2025Bomet Senator Hillary Sigei has defended the contested e-procurement system imposed by the National Treasury aimed at both levels of government.
Speaking on a local TV station on Tuesday, September 2, 2025, Sigei said the system will enhance the fight against corruption in Kenya’s public procurement. The e-procurement (e-GP) is a digital system designed to move all government buying and tendering online. However, while the National Treasury has hailed the initiative as a game-changer, it has triggered sharp debate across political and county leadership.
Senator Hillary Sigei is among those defending the move, arguing that e-procurement will close the door to favouritism and nepotism in tendering.
“This process will ensure fairness, transparency, and stop governors from giving their girlfriends and boyfriends contracts as opposed to deserving contractors,” Sigei said.
The legislator added that corruption is not confined to the national government but is deeply entrenched at the county level. “Corruption is not only limited to the National Government, it is rampant in the Counties… The objective of e-procurement is to cure the cancer of corruption.”
E-procurement was officially launched on April 7, 2025, by the National Treasury, meant to handle the entire procurement cycle: planning, bidding, contract management, and payment on a single digital system. Its goal is to make tenders open, traceable, and harder to manipulate.
Kenya’s procurement law, the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act (PPADA) of 2015, already supports digital procurement and gives the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) the mandate to oversee the shift. The law is rooted in Article 227 of the Constitution, which requires public procurement to be fair, transparent, and cost-effective.
Ledama Olekina differs with Ruto
Elsewhere, Narok Senator Ledama Olekina has differed with President William Ruto over the proposed electronic procurement system at the county level, warning that the national government’s push to impose the e-GP model on county administrations risks overstepping constitutional limits.
Taking to his X account on Monday, September 1, 2025, Olekina argued that the system will deepen an already bitter standoff over revenue allocation and slow delivery of services to Kenyans.
“With the utmost respect, Mr President … county governments are constitutionally semi-autonomous. Article 219 clearly mandates that counties receive their equitable share of revenue without undue delay and without deduction,” Sen. Olekina said in a statement, arguing that the rollout of a mandatory e-procurement directive for counties goes beyond powers granted to the national government and could trigger costly litigation that diverts county funds from development.