The Council of Governors (CoG) has announced plans to challenge the government’s mandatory electronic procurement directive in court, accusing the Treasury of paralyzing service delivery in counties.
Speaking on Citizen TV on Tuesday night, CoG chairperson Ahmed Abdullahi revealed that repeated appeals to Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi to withdraw the contentious circular had been ignored, leaving governors with no option but to seek legal redress.
According to Abdullahi, the e-Government Procurement (eGP) system was piloted in Elgeyo Marakwet, Busia, and Makueni but failed to meet expectations. Despite the shortcomings observed during the trial, the Treasury proceeded with a nationwide rollout, a move he said has disrupted operations in all 47 counties.
“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,” Abdullahi stated.
He warned that counties are currently unable to procure essential goods and services, including medical supplies and development inputs, leading to paralysis in critical sectors.
The governors also accused the national government of unfairly portraying counties as wastage hubs while ignoring corruption challenges within ministries and state agencies. “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,” Abdullahi argued.
He emphasized that while governors take political responsibility for their administrations, they are not directly in charge of supply chain management. The CoG chair further pointed out that the Public Procurement Act currently allows both manual and electronic procurement, meaning the directive to exclusively adopt eGP lacked legal grounding.
Abdullahi urged the government to address the technical challenges of the system before compelling counties to fully migrate.
Meanwhile, President William Ruto has defended the directive, insisting that all government institutions must transition to digital procurement. Over the weekend, he warned officials opposed to the system to either comply or leave his administration.
With the standoff escalating, the battle is now set to play out in court, setting up a high-stakes test between devolution and the national government’s digital governance agenda.
