Streamline procurement to benefit youth

The recent remarks by President Uhuru Kenyatta on how the 30 per cent government procurement rule for disadvantaged groups was being mishandled and manipulated must be backed by serious reforms to dismantle the powerful cartels responsible.

Although the rule was the government’s most transformative initiative to empower the youth, supportive measures and policies recognising that the youth are a marginalised group would have brought significantly different results.

Kenya is one of the most youthful nations in the world.

Considering that unemployment among the youth has been one of the country’s biggest challenges for many years, an integrated policy measure is what the country needed to address the problem through the 30 per cent procurement rule.

Providing business opportunities for the youth with such initiatives needs broad and focused interrogation of many other components that allow business to succeed.

The youth, women, and people living with disabilities, whom the directive sought to address through the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities, lack the necessary financial muscle and experience to enable them to manoeuvre through the procurement processes that have a history of being shrouded in mystery.

One of the key ingredients that has consistently lacked since the government issued the decree, both at the county and national government level, is insufficient sensitisation.

Most young people do not have any idea how to start a business and create other necessary structures to operate profitably.

It is this information gap that has provided powerful cartels the opportunity to front businesses registered by youth to seek government tenders and end up pocketing almost the entire fortune.

Equally important, there is a need to reduce the initial cost of registering a business and also insist on the requirements that the youth must meet to qualify for tenders since the initiative is part of affirmative action.

Another failure is the period that it takes for suppliers to be paid, especially young entrepreneurs.

Without sufficient working capital and relying on loans, these delays have weighed down many youth businesses.

YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

Some 40 per cent of budding entrepreneurs doing business with the government have been blacklisted by credit reference bureaus for failing to repay their loans on time. 

The government must stop corruption and dismantle cartels in the procurement system that demand kickbacks.

Many people have registered but few get tenders to supply government departments since the requirements are unachievable.

It is vital to install effective monitoring mechanisms to track government departments’ compliance with the law.

The officers found to be flouting it should be punished.

From the lessons learnt since the government started implementing the 30 per cent procurement rule, there is a compelling need to develop a policy that integrates all business processes and appoint a strong coordinating agency to run the programme.

The government has initiated several projects to empower the youth and although they can complement one another, they all operate in isolation.

For instance the government has been running the Youth Enterprise Development Fund and the Women Fund for almost a decade, and now there is the Uwezo Fund.

These can help to finance the youth to meet the procurement requirements.

It is important that the government acknowledge that investing in youth development is not an act of charity, a favour, or the need to attract a populous constituent for electoral victory.

The 2010 Constitution expressly provides in Article 55 for youth empowerment — especially through creation of decent employment.

Mr Obonyo is the author of Conversations about the Youth in Kenya. [email protected]