Kenneth Matiba, Chief Executive Officer of the Kenya Institute of Supplies Management (KISM), has called for a whole-of-society approach to tackling corruption in public procurement, warning that focusing only on procurement officers ignores a wider system of influence.
Speaking on Radio Generation on Wednesday, Matiba said graft in procurement cuts across the entire public finance cycle, from budgeting and planning to implementation and payment.
He urged a collective response, noting that corruption involves multiple actors working within an interconnected system.
“We should not stop at identifying the problem… we should move towards finding a collective approach,” he said.
Matiba warned against isolating procurement professionals as the sole culprits, saying such an approach has failed in the past to resolve the deeper problem.
He added that corruption is “integrated,” involving many players across different stages of the procurement process.
The KISM boss pointed to previous crackdowns where procurement officers were dismissed in large numbers, saying such measures did not fix the underlying weaknesses in the system.
According to the Kenya National Gender and Corruption Survey 2025 by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, bribery in procurement remains widespread, with at least 1.5 percent of service seekers reporting paying bribes in procurement processes, averaging about Sh24,020 per case. Overall, nearly 38.9 percent of Kenyans reported experiencing corruption when accessing public services.
Matiba said the root cause extends beyond institutions to societal values, pointing to upbringing, education, and ethics as key drivers of behaviour in public service.
https://x.com/RadioGenKe/status/2049363264891428914?s=20
He said reactive measures such as prosecutions alone are not enough to address the problem in the long term.
To strengthen prevention, KISM is working with the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and the Kenya School of Government to enhance ethics in procurement.
The institute has signed a memorandum of understanding to build a joint referral framework and deepen institutional cooperation.
KISM is also developing a mandatory ethics training programme for procurement officers aimed at instilling integrity from the start of their careers.
“When you are entrusted to serve, you must serve with the future in mind, not for personal gain,” Matiba said.