The Social Health Authority (SHA) has failed to meet its legal obligation to reserve 30 percent of its procurement contracts for women, young people, and people with disabilities.
A compliance report presented to Parliament on Tuesday revealed that the SHA met the target in only one of the three financial years under review, from 2022–2023 to 2024–2025.
According to Article 227(2) of the Constitution and Section 155(2) of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act 2015, as revised in 2022, public institutions must set aside at least 30 percent of procurement budgets for businesses owned by women, young people and those with disabilities.
In the 2022–23 financial year, the SHA's procurement budget was Sh448.9 million. Of that, only Sh76.2 million (17 percent) reached the three targeted groups. Young people received Sh52.8 million being awarded across 275 contracts, while women received Sh21.6 million across 120 contracts. People with disabilities received 11 contracts worth Sh1.7 million, representing just 0.38 percent of the annual budget.
Year 2023–2024, showed improvement. SHA directed Sh234.9 million (77.3 percent of its Sh303.9 million budget) to the three groups. Women received the largest share of 569 contracts worth Sh182.7 million, while young people received Sh40.3 million and people with disabilities received Sh11.9 million in 34 contracts.
But, in the 2024–2025 period (July 2024 to March 2025), only 8.4 percent of the budget had been directed to the three groups. Of that, women received Sh23.8 million across 113 contracts. Youth enterprises received Sh1.6 million across 45 contracts, while people with disabilities received two contracts totalling Sh26,000.
SHA CEO Mercy Mwangangi attributes the shortfall to the various barriers that eligible vendors face.
“A lack of understanding of how the public procurement system operates, as well as inadequate knowledge of how to apply for tenders, affects the implementation of the preference and reservation scheme,” Dr Mwangangi told the Senate Standing Committee on National Cohesion, Equal Opportunity and Regional Integration.
