What Kenya is Doing to Fight Corruption: Open Contracting
Kenya is on the frontline of fighting corruption in Africa. Recently, Kenya has been pushing for initiatives to fight corruption and one of these initiatives is Open Contracting. In December 2019, the Open Contracting Partnership (OCP) invited the Africa Freedom of Information Centre (AFIC) to share its experience of working with Uganda’s government to promote Open Contracting at a workshop in Nairobi. OCP conducted the workshop in collaboration with the PPRA and Hivos East Africa.
The Ksh22 million bathroom towels
On my way to the Intercontinental Hotel, where the activity took place, I had an exciting talk with Odhiambo James, a taxi driver, about the state of corruption in Kenya. He spoke of his disgust at the government’s purchase of towels at Ksh22 million. His outrage came from the $19 million Mega Dam scandal where it was claimed that one company was paid Ksh8 million for cutlery while another company was paid Ksh22 million for towels. Odhiambo wondered what role towels played in building a dam.
He felt that the government could have done better things with that money, such as building hospitals and schools. This is a feeling shared by most Kenyans who are tired of corruption.
James also mentioned how people in high places always manage to get away with their corrupt activities while the poor are constantly persecuted. He said this makes him very angry because he is a poor man.
The AFIC presentation at the workshop highlighted how disclosure on its own is not enough to tackle corruption in public procurement. Completeness and data quality remain significant challenges, as does gender inclusion.
Despite these challenges, there are some success stories. In Uganda, for example, the government has made Open Contracting a key priority and has seen some successes, including the implementation of an e-procurement system.
Kenya too has taken significant strides in making public procurement transparent in recent months, notably the launch of the newly redesigned Kenya Procurement Portal.
The workshop was attended by representatives from a number of Civil Society Organisations in Kenya, as well as from the OCP, PPRA and Hivos East Africa. It was a great opportunity for participants to share experiences and learn from each other.
The Workshop
This workshop was prepared on the backdrop of the Kenya government’s commitments to open contracting and to the Open Contracting Data Standard in several international fora. In recent months, the government, and PPRA in particular, have worked aggressively to make open up public contracting data to the private sector, citizens, oversight agencies and the government.
The AFIC represented by Cengkuru Michael, Open Data Specialist with the Africa Freedom of Information Centre (AFIC) shared Uganda’s experience m on Open Contracting at the workshop.
The workshop had four main goals:
- Discuss challenges and opportunities for implementing open contracting in Kenya
- Become familiar with the published Kenyan procurement data and what it contains
- Generate insights from the Kenyan procurement data by collaborating with other interested parties
- Discuss next steps to ensure increased contracting data publication and use in Kenya
Discuss challenges and opportunities
The first goal was discussed by the panellists and it emerged that there are a number of challenges that have hindered Kenya’s progress in open contracting. These challenges include lack of political will, capacity constraints within government agencies, and data quality issues.
Despite these challenges, participants agreed that there is potential to promote open contracting in Kenya. The next step for Kenya is to develop the capacity within government agencies and also promote open contracting at the regional level.
Become familiar with the published Kenyan procurement data
The second goal of the workshop was achieved through presentations by both OCP, PPRA and Hivos East Africa on what Kenyan procurement data currently contains as well as how it has been used so far. Participants were able to learn about the different datasets which are published as well as the various tools that have been developed to analyse and visualize this data.
Generate insights
The third goal of the workshop was discussed by participants through collaborative analysis of Kenyan procurement data. This generated insights into how open contracting can be used to fight corruption in public procurement in Kenya.
Discuss next step
The fourth goal of the workshop was discussed by the panellists and it emerged that there is a need for continued engagement with government agencies as well as the private sector to increase contracting data publication and use in Kenya.
The workshop was a success and provided great insights into how to promote open contracting in Kenya. The next step will be for the OCP to share these experiences with other African countries.
Key takeaways
The training was very interactive and practical. Different groups of people shared different perspectives on how to best use, disclosed data, and provided valuable feedback to the government. Essentially, that’s what open contracting is all about. Three things became apparent at the end of the session:
Disclosure on its own is not enough
When disclosed information can not be reused or if people do not know how and where it can be obtained, the effect will not be felt. Citizens should be able to use this data and provide valuable feedback to the government to have an impact.
Completeness and data quality remains a significant challenge
Higher-quality contracting data is imperative. Most of the available data are historical. Timeliness and completeness are essential for a more significant impact.
Gender inclusion continues to be a significant challenge in public procurement
While Kenya has made great strides towards enforcing beneficial ownership measures e.g., through publishing provider’s register, women remain largely excluded from public procurement.
There were no gender-disaggregated data in the data analyzed at the workshop.
However, it was great to see that, amid all these scandals, government entities like PPRA are working with partners like OCP and CSOs like Hivos and AFIC to fight corruption through open contracting. After all, it is said that:
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” ― Edmund Burke
