Treasury chokes cartels with online payment system
Treasury Principal Secretary Julius Muia who said the new online payment claims system will weed out fraudsters who often exploit suppliers in the guise of facilitating payments at various government offices.
A new online payment claims system by the National Treasury has disrupted cartels that have for long exploited suppliers and contractors through delayed approval of disbursements to solicit bribes.
An enhancement on the national Integrated Financial Management System (Ifmis) has shifted the management of purchase orders and invoices online in a bid to make processing of payment to suppliers more efficient and transparent.
The enhanced system, which went live on Monday has removed human interaction and will enable suppliers at the national and county levels of government to get purchase orders generated from Ifmis through email.
Emails and text messages will also be sent to suppliers at various stages of the payment process after delivery of goods and services to purchasing State entity is confirmed.
“Suppliers are now able to receive approved purchase orders through the supplier portal. They can schedule delivery and submit invoices after the delivery has been accepted,” Treasury Principal Secretary Julius Muia told the Nation.
Weed out fraudsters
This is expected to weed out fraudsters in payment of lucrative state tenders who often exploit suppliers in the guise of facilitating payments at various government offices.
Ifmis was created to provide audit trails of all financial transactions with details of the person who logged in, the time, the computer used, and the action performed in a bid to end corruption in government contracts.
The system has, however, failed to seal all loopholes for corruption with mounting claims that it was at the centre of some of the largest sleaze syndicates to hit Kenya in recent years at the national and county levels. This has prompted anti-corruption crusaders to question its safeguards in guaranteeing accountability in public procurement.
Apart, from having all payment processing systems online, the Treasury also plans a virtual system that will process all public tenders and linked to the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) in a policy shift aimed at enhancing transparency and nabbing tax cheats.
The Treasury in August last year invited foreign and local firms to bid for installation of the e-procurement system.
It will be linked to the taxman, which has been pursuing suppliers earning billions of shillings from counties and State tenders without remitting their pound of flesh.
