- Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah wants KNEC to disclose who secured the sensitive 2026 examination printing contract.
- He is seeking details on the procurement process, contract value, ownership, capacity and tax compliance of the successful bidder.
- The questions reopen debate over balancing examination security with transparency in the expenditure of public funds.
The Senator’s questions have shifted the debate from examination secrecy to a bigger issue: how much transparency should accompany a public contract worth potentially millions of shillings when national security is invoked?
The Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) is facing mounting questions over the company contracted to print Kenya’s 2026 national examination materials, with Senator Okiya Omtatah demanding detailed information on the procurement process, ownership of the successful firm, its technical capacity and the financial terms of the deal.
Omtatah has written to KNEC seeking answers on the procurement and printing of the 2026 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE), Kenya Junior School Education Assessment (KJSEA) and Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) materials.
His intervention has opened a much broader conversation about transparency, accountability and public confidence in the management of national examinations.
The Senator wants KNEC to disclose whether the successful bidder is a Kenyan company, a foreign firm or a Kenyan entity operating in partnership with an overseas company. He is also seeking information on the firm’s ownership, previous experience, technical and financial capacity, tax compliance and ability to undertake a sensitive national assignment of this magnitude.
At the centre of the controversy is the question of whether KNEC subjected the successful bidder to adequate due diligence before awarding the contract.
Omtatah is also seeking clarity on possible subcontracting. If another company was brought into the process, he wants KNEC to identify it, explain its responsibilities and disclose the extent of its involvement.
The questions are significant because examination printing is not an ordinary procurement exercise. It involves highly sensitive national material, enormous logistical demands and an extraordinary responsibility to protect the credibility of Kenya’s assessment system.
Yet the sensitivity of the assignment should not automatically translate into complete secrecy over the procurement process.
That is the line Omtatah appears to be drawing.
He has argued that national security should not become a blanket justification for withholding information that citizens are constitutionally entitled to access. His position is that it is possible to protect examination contents, security features and operational arrangements while still disclosing non-sensitive information about the company awarded the contract and the procurement process.
Omtatah expressly said his request was made under Article 35 of the Constitution and the Access to Information Act, 2016, and that he was not seeking examination papers or information that could compromise examination security.
That distinction is critical.
Kenya’s examination system depends on confidentiality. The contents of examination papers must remain protected until the appropriate time. Security protocols must be guarded. Printing, packaging, storage and distribution arrangements cannot simply be placed in the public domain.
But procurement accountability is a different matter.
The public has a legitimate interest in knowing whether a contract was competitively awarded, whether bidders met the required standards, whether the winning company possessed the necessary capacity and whether public funds were committed in accordance with the law.
Contract value, bidder under scrutiny
Omtatah wants KNEC to explain the procurement method used, the number of companies that participated, the criteria applied during evaluation and the identity of the successful bidder.
He has further demanded information on the value of the contract, the amount that had been budgeted for the exercise and how much KNEC has already paid or committed under the agreement.
These questions have assumed greater significance amid public scrutiny surrounding Inform Lykos (SA) Hellas Ltd, a Greek company previously associated with the printing of Kenyan national examinations and ballot papers.
Omtatah has also raised questions concerning tax matters, citing reports of scrutiny by the Kenya Revenue Authority over alleged tax liabilities. These issues, however, should be distinguished from established findings: allegations or reports of tax scrutiny should not automatically be treated as proof of wrongdoing.
Importantly, available reporting on Omtatah’s request does not establish that Inform Lykos was awarded the 2026 examination printing contract. The company is mentioned because of its previous involvement and the surrounding scrutiny, not as the confirmed successful bidder for 2026.
What matters now is whether KNEC can provide a clear account of the company selected for the 2026 assignment and demonstrate that the procurement process met the required legal, technical and financial standards.
The controversy comes at a particularly important moment for KNEC.
The 2026 examination cycle involves learners across different levels of Kenya’s education system. KCSE candidates are preparing for the final stage of secondary education assessment, while KJSEA and KPSEA remain important components of the country’s evolving Competency-Based Education assessment architecture.
The credibility of all three assessments depends not only on the quality of the questions but also on the integrity of every stage through which examination materials pass.
Printing is therefore part of the examination chain of trust.
A weakness at that stage can potentially undermine confidence in the entire assessment process.
This explains why procurement transparency matters.
It is not enough for KNEC to assure the public that examination materials are secure. The council must also demonstrate that the institution entrusted with producing those materials was selected through a credible, lawful and defensible process.
Transparency versus examination security
The issue has also revived a familiar dilemma in public administration: how does government balance transparency with national security?
The answer cannot be absolute secrecy.
Neither can it be unrestricted disclosure.
The better approach is controlled transparency—making public everything that can safely be disclosed while providing a clear and legally defensible explanation for information that must remain confidential.
Such an approach would protect examination security while strengthening public confidence.
KNEC’s response will therefore be closely watched.
The council has yet to publicly respond comprehensively to the demands raised by Omtatah. Its eventual explanation could either calm the controversy or intensify questions surrounding the procurement.
For parents, teachers, learners and the wider public, the concern is ultimately bigger than the identity of a printing company.
They want assurance that Kenya’s national examinations are being managed by institutions that are transparent, competent and accountable.
The integrity of an examination begins long before a learner enters an examination room. It begins with the systems that design, print, secure, transport and administer the papers.
Every link must therefore command confidence.
KNEC now has an opportunity to demonstrate that transparency and examination security are not competing principles.
They can coexist.
The council does not need to reveal confidential examination content or sensitive security arrangements to answer legitimate questions about a public procurement process.
What Kenya needs is a clear distinction between information that must be protected and information that must be accounted for.
That distinction could determine whether the latest controversy fades as a procurement dispute—or becomes another test of public confidence in the country’s examination system.
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For KNEC, the message is unmistakable: protect the examination, but explain the procurement.
By Hillary Muhalya
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