You Can’t Get A Tender In Kenya Without Bribing Top Government Officials

The government of the United States of America says that Kenya is one of the most corrupt countries in the world in terms of awarding tenders. USA says American companies are not winning tenders in Kenya because of bribes and extortion from top Kenyan government officials.

According to the US government, political interference in Kenya’s judiciary and extortion in public contracts is a major setback that might injure the trade relations between Kenya and the United States.

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“Corruption remains a substantial barrier to doing business in Kenya. US firms continue to report challenges competing against foreign firms that are willing to ignore legal standards or engage in bribery and other forms of corruption,” US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said.

According to the report, Kenyan officials are asking for hefty bribes from investors to award tenders from the government. Those who are not willing to part with the bribes are locked out of the tenders. It says the judiciary is corrupt too (Obviously.)

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In Transparency International’s 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index, Kenya scored 31 on a scale from 0 (“highly corrupt”) to 100 (“very clean”). When ranked by score, Kenya ranked 126th among the 180 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector.

Corruption is so rampant in tender circles that politicians have been accusing each other for eating alone and cutting off others. Transport CS Kipchumba Murkomen has been accused of receiving bribes from Chinese contractors by Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei.

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