EFFECT OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT PRINCIPLES ON PROCUREMENT IN GOVERNMENT SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN KISUMU EAST SUB COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Public procurement has been evolving for all 21st century firms, a trend that became more rapid at the turn of 1990s as the Government of Kenya (GoK) adopted new regulations in majority of the sectors and departments within firms came under increasing pressures to deliver much better results at optimum levels of funding. Yet, despite the evolution witnessed in public increase in Kenya the effect of public procurement in government schools in Kenya studies targeting procurement in Public secondary schools are scant. Data in Kenya, however, reveal that there are fundamental problems in procurement in Kenyan secondary schools on the matter of procurement, especially inflation of tenders, use of relatives, bribery and non-delivery of goods to the institutions. The few studies that have explored this relationship have majored on government institutions procurement on general basis, in addition to past studies to develop relationships for policy in Kenya. This study sought to bridge this apparent gap by investigating the effect of public procurement in government schools in Kisumu East County using a sample of 240 respondents attained using simple random sampling from the accessible population. Data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The study found that transparency, competitiveness, accountability and ethics positively influence procurement in government secondary schools in Kenya. Inferential statistics results, nonetheless, revealed that competitiveness significantly influences procurement in government secondary schools in Kenya. Based on these findings, therefore, the study recommends that despite enhancing transparency, competitiveness, accountability, and ethics in procurement in government secondary schools, much more emphasis should be placed on competitiveness to achieve the best results in the course of government school procurement.