Auditor General Gathungu, Treasury CS Mbadi clash over e-procurement efficiency

Auditor General Nancy Gathungu and Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi on Tuesday clashed over the efficiency of the Electronic Government Procurement (e-GP).

Appearing before Parliamentary committees on Budget and Finance, Gathungu faulted the system for procurement delays, slow project startups, under absorption of funds and growth in pending bills.

While presenting her 2026 Budget Policy Statement to the National Assembly Budget Committee, Gathungu poked holes into the e-GP system, which she says has failed on its mandate to digitize end to end public procurement planning, tendering and contract management.

“Many users struggled to navigate the system and submit compliant digital bids. These capacity gaps were compounded by system downtimes, freezes during peak tenders, and One-Time- Password (OTP) failures, disrupting tender opening and evaluation. We also noted integration weaknesses where the system is not synchronized to KRA iTax compliance,” she said.

The Auditor General also revealed that as at 20 February 2026, uptake remained low with only about 540 contracts processed nationwide, which is far below expectations for a national platform.

“The e-GP challenges have translated into procurement delays, slow project startups, under absorption of funds, growth in pending bills, and widening gaps between approved budgets and actual out turns, thereby posing a material risk to credible and timely budget execution over the period under review. Urgent action is required to stabilize the platform, complete integration with IFMIS and compliance databases,” said Gathungu.

But CS Mbadi differed with the Auditor General over the efficiency of e-procurement in public service, stating it is work in progress.

“The Auditor General is then acting in illegallity if she’s using manual procurement. I hope the Auditor General is not using this as an excuse. e-procurement will be 100% functional in the next financial calendar,” said Mbadi.

The Treasury CS also differed with the Auditor General on the government’s sale of Safaricom shares and other critical national assets, when the two appeared before the National Assembly Committee on Finance and Planning.

“We are racing against time in privatization of KPC whose deadline is today and Ksh.106 billion and Ksh.244 billion on Safaricom in the next few weeks,” he said.

Gathungu, on her part, however stated: “I am opposed to selling of national assets to put funds into infrastructure fund...in future, if we have no more assets to sell what happens to the fund?’’

The Parliamentary Finance watchdog insisted that Treasury must only complete the Safaricom-Vodacom deal after the culmination of the 2025/2026 financial calendar, to ensure government doesn’t lose dividends amounting to Ksh.7 billion.