BILATERALLY FINANCED PROCUREMENTS IN KENYA: A CRITIQUE OF THE KENYA STANDARD GAUGE RAILWAY PROCUREMENT

Abstract

Many emerging economies receive significant parts of their financial support to deliver on strategic projects through bilateral or multilateral arrangements. To facilitate this, most of these countries, such as Kenya, have created exceptions in their domestic public procurement laws. By using the Kenya Standard Gauge Railway infrastructure procurement as a case study and adopting a doctrinal legal research approach, this article offers insights on bilaterally financed procurement, in Kenya specifically, but also generally. The research posits that such procurements ought to be regulated and used as catalytic agents in advancing competition, accountability and transparency to realise value for money and bolster legitimacy in the procurement of strategic infrastructure projects.