The government, through the State Department for Investment Promotion, is coming up with a bill to streamline public-private partnerships and improve the business environment in the country.
The bill, which is now in draft form and is undergoing public participation, is dubbed the Public-Private Sector Engagement Policy and Public-Private Engagement Bill, 2025.
It was conceived during a round table meeting President William Ruto had with the private sector in August this year, after the business sector raised various issues regarding the business environment in Kenya.
Welcoming this move, Principal Secretary (PS) in the State Department for Investment Promotion, Mr. Abubakar Hassan Abubakar, said the government recognizes the private sector as a central pillar of Kenya’s economic growth, competitiveness, and investment attractiveness.
He noted that the Draft Policy and Draft Bill have been developed to strengthen, not diminish, the role of private sector actors in national development and provide a structured, predictable and transparent framework for collaboration between the government and private sector organizations across all sectors of the economy.
“Kenya’s current public-private engagement landscape has evolved over time, producing a wide array of Business Membership Organizations (BMOs), representing different industries, counties, and thematic interests,” Abubakar observed.
The remarks were contained in a speech read on his behalf by the Administration Secretary (AS), Mr. El-samma Ndegwa, during a Public Participation exercise on the Public-Private Sector Engagement Policy and Public-Private Engagement Bill, 2025, bringing together stakeholders from the Nyanza and Western regions held in Kisumu on Tuesday.
Ndegwa noted that the private sector in Kenya is very vibrant, but this has also resulted in fragmented advocacy, overlapping mandates, inconsistent messaging, and challenges in organizing a coherent national dialogue on business reforms, which the bill seeks to cure.
The PS stated that the existing gaps in the laws governing investment have often slowed the pace of policy reform and undermined the collective ability of the private sector to influence the business environment in a unified and impactful manner.
“The Draft Public–Private Engagement Policy, therefore, seeks to strengthen coordination, improve coherence, and create a clear institutional anchor for structured dialogue. Its goal is to foster a transparent and inclusive environment, where private sector concerns are consolidated, prioritised and addressed through evidence-based engagement,” the PS explained.
The policy supports the growth and empowerment of Business Membership Organizations (BMOs) by enhancing their capacity to participate effectively in national policy formulation processes.
The bill also operationalizes this policy by establishing a coordinated mechanism for engagement and provides definitions that safeguard the independence of BMOs and affirm their continued role as the primary voice of the private sector.
It proposes the establishment of a national framework for engagement, guides the conduct of these engagements, and is envisaged to create an institution called the Business Council of Kenya (BCK) to facilitate coordination.
“The BCK will not replace or absorb BMOs; rather, it will serve as a platform through which BMOs collectively articulate priority issues that require government attention and the Act applies to both the public and private sectors, ensuring mutual accountability and consistency. Under the bill, BMOs retain their autonomy, membership structures, leadership, and advocacy mandates.”
Abubakar said under the proposed law, the government does not acquire the power to register, regulate, dissolve, or interfere with the operations of any private sector organization, but instead, BMOs gain a formal channel through which their issues are consolidated, elevated, and acted upon in a time-bound process.
He said the bill establishes a series of mechanisms that guarantee continuous, structured, and inclusive engagement in order to ensure seamless dialogue. These include regular calls for submissions of private sector issues, technical reviews, sector-based consultations, joint meetings between government entities and BMOs, escalation pathways for unresolved matters, and a formal feedback system within certain timelines.
These mechanisms are meant to enhance responsiveness, reduce duplication, and ensure that private sector concerns are addressed comprehensively and transparently.
“The State Department emphasizes that the proposed framework enhances, not restricts, participation. By strengthening coordination and ensuring that every BMO has a recognized channel for engagement, the policy and bill promote fairness, inclusivity and efficiency,” the PS noted.
These frameworks are designed to reinforce Kenya’s competitiveness and create a more conducive environment for investment, entrepreneurship, job creation and sustainable economic development.
Abubakar reiterated the government’s commitment to open dialogue, continuous consultation and strengthening the country’s public-private partnership ecosystem and called on all stakeholders to participate actively in the ongoing public participation exercises to enrich the final framework and ensure it reflects the collective aspirations of the Kenyan business community before it is taken to Parliament to be passed into law.
Kisumu County Commissioner (CC), Benson Leparmorijo, urged the stakeholders to analyze the draft bill and freely give their views, adding that the 2010 Constitution upholds that the views of Kenyans must always be taken before a major decision or law is enacted.
A report released by the Ministry of Cooperatives and MSMEs Development shows that MSMEs power over 80 percent of Kenya’s workforce and contribute nearly 40 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), yet many still face challenges accessing affordable credit.
They employ approximately 15 million people in Kenya, which is about 85 percent of the non-farm workforce.
According to the 2016 MSME Survey, there were over 7.4 million MSMEs in the country, with the unlicensed segment contributing more than half of the total employment.
A significant portion of this employment comes from unlicensed businesses, which are estimated to account for 57.8 percent of MSME jobs.
by Mabel Keya – Shikuku
