Connecting beneficial ownership data and public procurement in Kenya

Open Ownership organised a workshop in Nairobi on 14 and 15 June 2022 to discuss the current state of beneficial ownership (BO) data in Kenya, and its connections to public procurement.

Co-organised with the Business Registration Service, which has responsibility for collecting BO information from companies in Kenya, the two-day hybrid workshop brought together over 40 participants from government, civil society, academia and the media.

Current situation

In February 2022, Kenya updated its legislation to allow beneficial ownership data to be published for the first time. Now, when bidding for public procurement tenders, companies must ensure the details on ownership and control are up to date on the central register. They must also consent to this information being published in the event that they win the contract. The information can then be released as part of the country’s open contracting data publications.

Workshop deliverables

Our workshop introduced participants to the key concepts of beneficial ownership, set out the importance of collecting high-quality data on the ownership or control of companies, explored recent changes to relevant legislation in Kenya and established how beneficial ownership information can be used in public procurement processes.

On day two, technical, legal and advocacy experts from Kenya and across Africa updated participants with their recent experience of beneficial ownership implementation in practice. The workshop was part of a nine-month project working on BO in Kenya which Open Ownership has been delivering, thanks to support from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

The event catalysed interest from local stakeholders about how to make best use of the newly-disclosed BO data once it starts being published by the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority.

Videos of all the sessions are available on the Open Ownership YouTube channel, along with links to the presentations which were delivered by the participating experts.