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.
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