Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua on Tuesday praised procurement officers saying majority are diligent and honest professionals who need to be respected as such.
Speaking during the Second Procurement and Supply Chain Dialogue at Sarova Whitesands Beach Resort, Mombasa, Mr Gachagua asked Kenyans to stop blanket condemnation of the profession.
“There are many serious professionals in the procurement and supply chain sector. There are also a few rogue officers who are corrupt in tendering processes. Let people be called by name for what they are. Targetting of all procurement officers for condemnation is unfair and needs to stop,” the Deputy President said.
He added that the profession does not operate in a vacuum and like others in our society, 5 per cent are the bad apples.
However he asked procurement officers to dignify the profession by exposing and dealing with the rotten apples among them.
While raising concerns over corruption, which denies deserving Kenyans an opportunity to do business with the Government, Gachagua suggested to investigating agencies to hire procurement and supply chain experts in the fight against corruption.
“I want to ask investigation agencies to recruit procurement professionals to help investigate cases of corruption. Some police officers are clueless; they have no idea of what they are looking for,” he said adding that without the requisite expertise, corruption cases flop and taxpayer’s money is lost.
He challenged the Ethics and AntiCorruption Commission and other agencies to work harder in ending corruption.
“We cannot keep complaining that we lose billions of shillings to corruption. The Government has allocated tax-payer’s resources to institutions to root out this vice. We have the capacity to implement fool-proof systems. We have adequate laws and we are ready to strengthen them where there are gaps,” Mr Gachagua said.
While calling for inclusion of high-tech ways for transparency in procurement, the Deputy President said such systems will give an opportunity to hustlers too.
“We cannot have an inclusive Supply Chain that does not value Integrity. We cannot have an inclusive Supply Chain that does not regard transparency and non-interference. The Supply Chain Sector has the key to birthing the next generation of millionaires from the bottom,” he said.
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