PS Kisiang’ani: The Star Secured MyGov Tender Fairly

The government is contesting allegations that the Star Publication secured an unfair tender to circulate and print MyGov.

Edward Kisiang’ani, the Principal Secretary of Information, Communications, and the Digital Economy, has dismissed claims of non-tendering as untrue and misleading.

Star Publications legitimately won the tender late last year and is presently responsible for printing and distributing 100,000 complimentary copies of the newspaper every Tuesday.

The Star Publication has become the exclusive printer and distributor of MyGov, the government newspaper featuring tenders and official communications. The contracts with four other dailies expired in December last year.

In a notice to various entities, the Ministry stated that all government adverts would now be printed and distributed by the Star.

This move affects Daily Nation, The Standard, and The People Daily, depriving them of revenue previously earned from printing and circulating government ads through MyGov.

Principal Secretary Kisiang’ani clarified that the tender process was fair, advertised on MyGov through Daily Nation, closed on October 11, 2023, and evaluated on December 14, 2023.

The Standard Group was disqualified for lacking the required documents, Savin failed to meet KRA compliance, and the Postal Corporation bid only for distribution.

The Principal Secretary highlighted that final negotiations for the MyGov tender were concluded on December 13, 2023.

Nation quoted Sh720,000 per page, totalling Sh28 million for a 40-page pullout, while the Ministry's offer of Sh350,000 per page was declined. Mediamax quoted Sh591,000 per page (Sh23 million for 40 pages) but rejected the Ministry's Sh250,000 per page offer. Convergence Africa Media offered a flat rate of Sh9 million for each MyGov pullout.

The PS emphasized the need to consider the lowest bidder saying,“As your PS, what was I supposed to do? Was I supposed to go for the highest bidder for the job. Are you saying I should have ignored the lowest bidder?”

He denied discrimination based on political orientation, stating that the government reduced ad expenditure by 47%, reallocating funds to critical service areas.

“Nobody has discriminated against anybody based on their political orientation. If we are not discriminating against you the media do not discriminate against us,” he added.

 A Treasury circular 2015 centralized public sector advertising through the government advertising agency (GAA), designating MyGov as the official medium for print advertisements and government development content.