Procurement law to wait as team fails to conclude talks

PHOTO | FILE The National Assembly in session.  NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary

• The Bills had been rejected by the President with reservations.
• While the National Assembly had considered and adopted the President’s memoranda, the Senate rejected them.

By JOHN NGIRACHU
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Legal proposals on how to better manage public procurement and the Office of the Auditor-General are facing an uncertain future after a committee formed to find a compromise between the National Assembly and the Senate on the respective Bills failed to conclude their discussions.

The Bills had been rejected by the President with reservations, prompting the Senate and the National Assembly to reconsider them and decide on whether to adopt the President’s prescribed amendments.

While the National Assembly had considered and adopted the President’s memoranda, the Senate rejected them, prompting the formation of mediation committees as stipulated by the Constitution.

But Nominated MP Johnson Sakaja, who had been mandated to lead the National Assembly’s teams to the mediation committees, told the House that they had failed to meet to endorse the reports from their deliberations.

National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi had directed the MPs in the joint committee to uphold and put emphasis on the decisions of the National Assembly made on June 18  and June 23, where the MPs adopted whole the President’s recommendations. 

The joint committee started its sittings on July 28. 

Mr Sakaja said they did not adopt the reports developed from their meetings a day to the 14-day period within which they were required to have reported back to the respective Houses. 

“Efforts to have the chairman of the committee to formally convene a second meeting on Thursday, August 6, 2015 at 5 pm for purposes of considering  adopting the two reports did not materialise,” he said. 

This happened because the joint committee had disagreed on the report and especially the amendments to the memorandum by the President. 

“All we needed was to have signed the report. No meeting has been possible on that and this is the first time we are dealing with a situation of this nature,” said Mr Sakaja.

The Bill on public procurement is important because it will streamline the process through which government agencies go about buying or selling public property