EDITORIAL: Apply 40 per cent rule in computer procurement

Opinion and Analysis

 

By BUSINESS DAILY

During his Madaraka Day address this year, President Kenyatta emphasised that the 40 per cent local procurement rule must be applied rigorously.

That the president had to go out of his way to remind public servants to apply such a critically important rule speaks volume of our capacity to do things that help us a country.

We mourn on a daily basis that the shilling is losing value vis-à-vis currencies of our trading partners and assume there is nothing we can do about. Which is patently false.

How do you justify giving huge contracts to foreigners to do things that can be done by local companies? Indeed, the procurement rules should lean towards stemming foreign outflows as much as possible.

We cannot have local companies supplying goods and services to foreign countries and then turn around and import the same—just because of a few technicalities and cost differences which pale in comparison to exporting jobs and paying huge amounts in dollars to foreigners.

We urge the Treasury and Central Bank of Kenya to take administrative action where necessary to stop importation of goods that can be produced locally, more so when they are sourced outside our trading blocks.

The topic is very current because the state is in the process of procuring tablets for our primary schools.

Tablets are no longer a novelty to be imported from outside while we’ve even had local assembly with varied success for years.

The fact that several universities are bidding for the contract is an opportunity to enhance local content while building skills. This should be no excuse to procure poor quality stuff though.

But it is our belief that where that is an issue the bidders should be allowed to forge foreign partnerships to keep the money home.

The computer promise is a Jubilee administration campaign manifesto pledge. Hopefully, it will make more sense by creating local jobs and keeping most of the dollars home.

President Kenyatta will be justified to put his foot down in demanding compliance with the law in public interest.

At the same time he must keep the vultures who have hounded the project seeking to steal from the public as usual at bay.

Additionally, he should enforce the same across parastatals whose chiefs are more concerned about their cuts than how procurement helps build the local economy. That can define his legacy.