The performance of public contracts in Kenya has, for decades, dominated public debate on financial accountability. The success of public projects are determined by a well defined contractual process of competitive bidding that seeks to protect the public against the squandering of public funds and prevents abuses such as fraud, favoritism and extravagance. According to the budget speech (2010/2011) by the finance minister, Kenya loses over 30% of its public revenue to fraudulent/ corrupt procurement. This problem of corruption is further compounded by the lack of information and the veil of bureaucracy donned by public institutions. Kenya has similarly continued to score poorly not only in the global corruption perception report but also in the East Africa Bribery index.

It is against this background that a pioneer multi-stakeholder group - Contract Monitoring Kenya Network (CMKN)[1] was established to empower citizens to hold public authorities accountable and to espouse transparency and accountability in public contracting. Similar networks have been launched in East/South Africa Zambia, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda and West Africa; Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone & Liberia supported by the World Bank Institute

A key activity that would guide the networks future intervention is a Baseline Study on Public Contracting in Kenya’ carried out by the network. The study is an overview of the current status of procurement in Kenya. It focuses on four key public sectors: education, water, construction industry (particularly in roads/transport infrastructure) and health (mainly in pharmaceuticals). 

To download the report, visit the CMKN website on www.cmkn.org