A key highlight of the World Bank Group’s presentation was the urgent need for Kenya to shift from unsolicited PPP proposals to competitive procurement. Experts from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) emphasised that open bidding not only ensures value for money but also accelerates project delivery.

The National Assembly’s Public Debt and Privatization Committee has initiated a reform agenda following an engagement with the World Bank Group, aimed at reshaping how Kenya structures, supervises, and delivers public-private partnership (PPP) projects.

The committee, chaired by Mbalambala Constituency MP Shurie Abdi Omar, marked a significant step toward addressing long-standing weaknesses in debt oversight and PPP governance.

Established under the 13th Parliament, the committee is tasked with closing critical gaps that have historically limited Parliament’s role in managing public debt and scrutinising PPP arrangements.

“Parliament in its wisdom thought, let’s get a committee that purely looks into these affairs,” said Shurie. “We’re proactively working to catch up with the gaps that have been there and to deepen engagement with other stakeholders.”

A key highlight of the World Bank Group’s presentation was the urgent need for Kenya to shift from unsolicited PPP proposals to competitive procurement. Experts from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) emphasised that open bidding not only ensures value for money but also accelerates project delivery.

“Projects that have been procured competitively are typically done between one and two years, whereas non-competitive deals can take three, four, even five years on structuring,” said Tomas Adcock, a PPP transaction specialist with the IFC. He added that competitive tendering enables “price discovery,” helping governments avoid inflated costs often associated with closed-door negotiations. Capital News