Senate orders Wajir county to upload missing procurement records

The Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Budget has directed the Wajir County Government and the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) to work jointly to address gaps in procurement records and improve transparency, following concerns over missing documentation in the county’s procurement system.

Appearing before the committee on Thursday, June 4, 2026, Wajir Governor Ahmed Abdullahi explained that technical difficulties prevented the county from uploading its procurement plan for the 2022-2023 financial year to the Public Procurement Information Portal (PPIP).

The governor, however, assured senators that the issue had since been addressed, noting that procurement records for the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 financial years were successfully uploaded.

He told the committee that 763 tenders have been published on the system.

Abdullahi further defended the county’s procurement practices, saying the administration relied solely on open tenders and requests for quotations during the period under review.

He added that no contracts were varied and no tenders were terminated.

The committee, chaired by Senator Ali Roba, also examined a complaint relating to delayed payment for the construction of an X-ray unit at TB Manyata.

In response, the governor said the delay was linked to a large volume of pending bills inherited from previous administrations. He explained that the county had adopted a strict verification process before settling claims due to incomplete records inherited from the past.

”The position of the county government is that we have taken the agency’s recommendations very seriously,” Governor Abdullahi stated.

“Our inherited pending bill problem is unique among the 47 counties. We actually inherited a situation of incomplete records, where it was not even possible to know what was the actual figure of genuine pending bills. We resorted to actual verification before payment, and we have been addressing these obligations on a first-in, first-out basis.”

Members of the committee acknowledged the need to complete the medical facility, noting that tuberculosis continues to pose a public health challenge in the country.

The senators also observed that the concerns surrounding procurement reporting appeared to stem from administrative and communication failures rather than any indication of financial wrongdoing.

Committee members noted that uploading procurement information is a routine administrative task and said the matter could be resolved through cooperation between the county government and the regulator without incurring additional costs through further investigations or follow-up processes.

As part of its recommendations, the committee directed Wajir County to upload all procurement records for the 2022-2023 financial year that had previously been submitted manually, ensuring they remain permanently accessible to the public through the PPIP system.

“It is important for you, actually more than anybody else, because complaints can come after you’ve left office, to secure those documents and upload them rather than having shared them manually. Just have your team upload the documents,” Senator Roba directed.

The committee also urged PPRA to improve communication with county governments by adopting direct and modern communication channels, including the use of the official email address of the Wajir County Secretary, to avoid delays and challenges associated with physical correspondence.