Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich on Tuesday defended government departments under pressure for classifying 'rich' women as disadvantaged in awarding multi-million shilling tenders in the country.
Mr Rotich gave these remarks in a Nairobi hotel while giving a brief on a meeting of top global government officials, multi-nationals and donors to be held on November 28 and it will run to December 1 in Nairobi.
According to Rotich, even the well-off in the society were disadvantaged 'in one way or another' and needed to do business to be satisfied.
"We cannot differentiate who is disadvantaged in the society according to the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO) programme set forth by the Jubilee government. In the AGPO group, we have women, youth and the disabled and as it stands, all of them are disadvantaged in one way or another and hence have a right to do business with the government," said Rotich.
This comes after the Afya House scandal revealed that President Uhuru Kenyatta's sister and cousin had been given tenders worth millions of shillings by the government.
This raised questions concerning who among the women, youth and disabled should benefit from the 30 per cent government tenders that have been set aside in AGPO programme.
This comes after a host of Jubilee government leaders defended the move to award the tenders to President Kenyatta's sister and cousin to supply medical equipment whereas their company had been registered under the disabled groups despite 'not being disabled'.