Auditor General Gathungu, CS Mbadi Clash Over e-Procurement Performance
Auditor General Nancy Gathungu and Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi fought on Tuesday over the effectiveness of electronic government procurement (e-GP).
Gathungu, who spoke before Parliamentary Budget and Finance committees, blamed the system for procurement delays, slow project initiation, underfunding, and an increase in pending bills.
Gathungu delivered her 2026 Budget Policy Statement to the National Assembly Budget Committee.
She criticized the e-GP system, claiming that it failed to meet its mandate of digitizing end-to-end public procurement planning, tendering, and contract management.
Auditor General Nancy Gathungu and Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi on Tuesday differed sharply over the performance of the Electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) system during appearances before the National Assembly Budget and Finance Committees.
— Bizna Kenya (@biznakenya) February 24, 2026
Appearing before the… pic.twitter.com/wsa4kFEZAw
“Many users struggled to navigate the system and submit compliant digital bids,” she said.
“These capacity gaps were compounded by system downtimes, freezes during peak tenders, and One-Time-Password (OTP) failures, disrupting tender opening and evaluation.”
Adding, “We also noted integration weaknesses where the system is not synchronized to KRA iTax compliance.”
The AG also stated that as of 20 February, uptake remained low, with only roughly 540 contracts processed countrywide, much below expectations for a national platform.
“The e-GP challenges have translated into procurement delays, slow project startups, under absorption of funds, growth in pending bills, and widening gaps between approved budgets and actual outturns, thereby posing a material risk to credible and timely budget execution over the period under review,” said Gathungu.
“Urgent action is required to stabilize the platform, complete integration with IFMIS and compliance databases.”
However, CS Mbadi disagreed with the Auditor General on the efficiency of e-procurement in the public sector, claiming that it is a work in progress.
“The Auditor General is then acting in illegality if she’s using manual procurement,” said Mbadi.
“I hope the Auditor General is not using this as an excuse. e-procurement will be 100% functional in the next financial calendar.”
ALSO READ:
- Ukraine Identifies More Kenyans Killed Fighting For Russia Despite Gov’t Intervention
- Kenya Finally Receives Ksh103 Billion From KPC Sale
- Ruto, Museveni Announce Joint Oil Refinery Set Up In Tanzania, Dangote Approves
- ODM’s Oburu, UDA’s Ruto Unveil Broad-Based Committee For 2027 Plans
- National Treasury Officially Removes Kenya Pipeline From State Entities’ List
When the Treasury CS spoke before the National Assembly Committee on Finance and Planning, he disagreed with the Auditor General on the government’s sale of Safaricom shares and other vital national assets.
“We are racing against time in privatization of KPC, whose deadline is today and Ksh.106 billion and Ksh.244 billion on Safaricom in the next few weeks,” he said.
Gathungu, on her part, however, stated: “I am opposed to selling national assets to put funds into an infrastructure fund…in future, if we have no more assets to sell, what happens to the fund?’’
To avoid losing dividends worth Ksh.7 billion, the Parliamentary Finance watchdog requested that Treasury complete the Safaricom-Vodacom agreement until after the 2025/2026 financial year finishes.
Auditor General Gathungu, CS Mbadi Clash Over e-Procurement Performance
