By Sharon Atieno
Despite an increase in the number of women doing business with the government in Kenya, the amount allocated to them under the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO) remains low.
AGPO is an affirmative action law that requires public entities to apportion at least 30% of procurement budget to businesses owned by women, youth and people living with disabilities (PWDs).
According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, between 2019 and 2020, the value of AGPO contracts increased from Ksh. 7.4 million in 2015/2016 to Ksh. 17.2 million.
However, in the same period, the Kenya Economic Survey report notes that women received only 26% of the total amount of funds reserved in the 2019/2020 financial year while the rest of the budget remained non-committed and unutilised.
A study conducted by The Institute for Social Accountability (TISA) in partnership with Africa Freedom of Information Centre (AFIC) and Open Contracting Partnership (OCP) found that the AGPO budget is lumped within the government budget and if there is delayed or no exchequer releases, then the budgeted AGPO vote head would be interfered.
Presenting the study during a TISA-AFIC roundtable with policy makers on access to government procurement opportunities in Nairobi, Kenya, Joan Akoth, TISA’s Program Officer noted that women-led businesses lost half of the AGPO opportunities due to unactualized budgets between 2020 and 2021.
“This creates a false impression that the women benefit more from the 30% reserved tenders yet in actual values it would be far less,” she said.
The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) supported study notes that for national government agencies, the AGPO values awarded were just 84% of the required 30% AGPO regulation.
The situation is even worse at the county governments where 47% and 12% of procurement budget were released for county executive and county assembly respectively.
As such, the study notes that women-led businesses miss significantly on the AGPO opportunities at county level and equally the women suppliers at the county level suffer delayed payments over the periods resulting from pending bills compared to the national government institutions such as Ministries and State Departments.
In this regard, Akoth called on the government to avail resources to enable full utilization by the beneficiaries.
On the other hand, Akoth observed that only low value tenders are left for women to compete for such as stationeries, cleaning and catering, which have smaller profit margins. Fewer women were involved in high value tenders such as technology and construction.
“Women go for tenders that they would be able to service financially, those that are less political or with less interested parties, and equally what is not very sophisticated that would produce complication in execution,” the study reads.
The study surveyed 280 participants from six counties across Kenya including Isiolo, Kwale, Nairobi, Bomet, Trans Nzoia and Kisumu.
According to Gilbert Sendugwa, AFIC’s Executive Director though there is political will to ensure access to public procurement opportunities for women, “some of these decisions go beyond this and require technical and financial support.”
Additionally, Sendugwa noted that achieving gender equality remains grim if women are not able to access such opportunities.
