Francis Muthaura is Chairman of the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor project/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 31 – The Government should consider revising the Public–Private Partnership (PPP) Act that was legislated in 2013 to hasten the process of investments into the country, Chairman of the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia-Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor project, Ambassador Francis Muthaura, has said.
Muthaura says PPP Act seems to have some bottlenecks that are hindering investments.
“Efficient execution of Private-Public Partnership has propelled many countries to great heights. However, in Kenya there has been significant delays in a number of projects whose roots cause is easily traceable to the Government of Kenya’s policy on the established an institutional framework through Regulations issued under the Public Procurement Disposal (Public Private Partnership) Regulations 2009 and the subsequent PPP Act that came into effect on February 8, 2013,” he said.
Amb. Muthaura made the remarks while he officiated at the opening ceremony of the Accounting Officers Program at the Kenya School of Government, Matuga Campus, in which over 20 Chief Executive Officers from State Corporations are undergoing training.
“KSG being the premier training institution in the public service is mandated by law to develop programs that continually empower the public service. This responsibility is critical to provision of effective, efficient and responsive services to the citizenry,” said Amb. Muthaura.
The Accounting Officers Program aims to assist CEOs to enhance their knowledge and understanding of the demanding responsibilities of the office they hold.
The Chairman, whose LAPSSET Corridor Program is Eastern Africa’s largest and most ambitious infrastructure project bringing together Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan and consisting of infrastructure projects starting with a new 32 Berth port at Lamu, Interregional Highways from Lamu to Isiolo, and Isiolo to Juba to mention but a few, termed it unfortunate that PPP in Kenya has been marred by too much bureaucracy.
He, however, did not express any doubts about the Government’s good intention pointing out that Kenya had established a Special Purpose Unit within the National Treasury under Section 8 of the Public Private Partnership Act, 2013 to specifically handle projects under the PPP domain.
The PPP Unit’s focus is to serve as the secretariat and technical arm of the PPP Committee, which is mandated with assessing and approving PPP projects in the country.
“The delays being witnessed in the processing of PPP’s may be a justification for the country to review the Private-Public-Partnership Act by identifying where there are bottlenecks under the current arrangement and fixing them for efficient operation of PPP,” said Ambassador Muthaura.
