SPEECH BY MS.

ANNE WAIGURU, OGW, CABINET SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF DEVOLUTION AND PLANNING DURING THE WOMEN, YOUTH AND PERSONS KENYATTA WITH DISABILITY EXPO ON GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITIES, INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE CENTER ON 16TH OCTOBER, 2013

Your Excellency the President and Commander-inChief of the Defence Forces of the Republic of Kenya; Honourable Governor, Nairobi County; Honourable Members of Parliament and Senators; Cabinet Secretaries present; Chief of Staff and Head of the Public Service; Principal present; Members of the Diplomatic Corps; Distinguished Guests; Ladies and Gentlemen;
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Secretaries

and

other

Public

Servants

We thank you Your Excellency for taking time to grace this occasion. We are gathered here today with women, youth and persons with disability as we present the public procurement opportunities that your government has made available to them. This is in line with your directive that government should preferentially set aside at least 30% of all public procurement spend for this category. Your Excellency, Your government committed to empower women and youth who constitute the majority of the countrys population. This
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programme also seeks to empower persons with disabilities who have previously been marginalized. Recognizing that the Government needed to provide these groups with more opportunities, you gave a directive that affirmative action measures should be put in place, to create a level playing field that would enable them build their entrepreneurial capacities and contribute to economic development. It is for this reason that we are now implementing the 30% public procurement preferential provisions.

Your Excellency, In fulfillment of this directive, every government ministry and agency has committed in their performance contracts to implement this affirmative action for youth, women and persons with disability. This is by availing opportunities to them to supply a minimum of 30% of the total value of procurement undertaken in the respective agencies. To facilitate the implementation of this directive, my Ministry is working jointly with the National Treasury to mobilize and
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register enterprises run by youth, women and persons with disabilities for prequalification in order that they can take full advantage of this provision. This information will thereafter be made available to all public procurement entities. Your Excellency, We are alive to the fact that there are myriads of challenges facing this category of entrepreneurs that hinder them from realizing their full potential. To address these, the Ministry has committed to sensitizing and training this category of
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entrepreneurs not only on the 30% access to government procurement opportunities and tendering procedures; but also on the basic entrepreneurial skills and competencies required to grow sustainable businesses. Towards this end, we have lined up various training programmes throughout the country that are expected to kick off immediately. The trainings will equip youth, women and persons with disability with the requisite knowledge, skills, attitudes and competencies to spur their creativity and innovativeness for success; help them identify market and value chain linkages; as well as enable them to network with other entrepreneurs.
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The other challenge is the lack of information that limits women and youth from taking full advantage of opportunities, such as these when they are made available. This Expo serves to address this challenge and to demystify public procurement. Through the Expo, we intend to lay bare information on opportunities that are available for doing business with government. It provides multiple solutions, by closing the loop with regard to business opportunities within government; the regulatory and institutional requirements required to take advantage of the same; as well as
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opportunities for facilitation within the private and public sector financial institutions . It is for this reason therefore, that we have the government institutions as well as private sector institutions including the banks present here today. Your Excellency, The Ministry of Devolution and Planning being the Ministry responsible for youth and gender affairs will continue to facilitate the implementation of this initiative across the board in conjunction with the relevant government organs.
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As part of our gender mainstreaming strategy, we have seconded, women and youth officers to all Ministries, within the Central Policy and Planning Units. These officers will be responsible for advising and monitoring the implementation of this directive in their respective duty stations. They will also be responsible for ensuring that gender and youth issues are mainstreamed throughout all policies and programmes within their respective sectors. Your Excellency,
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Allow me to break down what this preferential provision actually means for women, youth and persons with disability. 30% of public procurement spend is approximately Ksh200 billion worth of contracts annually. If we further break down some of the budget categories, this translates to over Ksh2 billion for general supplies and services; Ksh10 billion for purchase of furniture and other general equipment; and another Ksh2 billion for communication services amongst others.

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We are going a step further and ensuring we are ring-fencing all those tenders below Ksh.500,000, to be exclusively for enterprises owned by women, youth and persons with disability. Many of the small user items used for day to day government functionality lie within this category. By earmarking this category, we are for example ring fencing the Ksh2 billion worth of general supplies I mentioned earlier.

Your Excellency,
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As I conclude, I wish to reiterate that this is a phenomenal move that your government has taken. The positive welfare impact of this undertaking will reverberate through-out the economy. This also serves as a wealth redistributive measure that will expand reach with regard to the national cake. It is therefore now my humble duty to welcome you Your Excellency to give your address.
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Welcome Your Excellency.

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