Nairobi Has Zero eGP Contracts. Kisumu Has 467. Which County Are You In?

Kenya's e-Government Procurement system has been law since 2025.

One year in, you'd expect all 47 county governments to be actively posting tenders on the platform. You would be wrong.

As of May 2026, only 20 of Kenya's 47 counties have active contracts on eGP. That's 42.6% of the country.

The other 57.4%? Silent.

Here's the part that will surprise you: Nairobi County — Kenya's capital, home to over 4 million people and hundreds of thousands of registered businesses — has zero active eGP contracts. So does Mombasa. So does Kiambu, which borders Nairobi and is one of the fastest-growing economic zones in East Africa.

Meanwhile, Kisumu County has posted 467 contracts worth KES 1.39 billion on the platform.

Let that sit for a moment.

The 20 Counties That Are Active (As of May 2026)

These counties have at least one active contract on egpkenya.go.ke. If your business operates here, the opportunities are already live:

County	Status
Kisumu	467 contracts · KES 1.39 billion (National leader)
Siaya	163 contracts · KES 851 million
Murang'a	Active
Baringo	Active
Vihiga	Active
Busia	Active
Nandi	Active
Bomet	Active
Samburu	Active
Migori	Active
Homa Bay	Active
Trans Nzoia	Active
Lamu	Active
Elgeyo Marakwet	Active
Kakamega	Active
Tharaka Nithi	Active
West Pokot	Active
Machakos	Active
Kajiado	Active

Source: CS Mbadi statement + EastleighVoice, May 2026. Data is dynamic — eGP portal updates daily.

The 27 Counties With No Active eGP Contracts

These counties are legally required to use eGP from July 1, 2026 — but as of May 2026 data, they have no active contracts on the platform.

Major urban counties — watch these for the biggest incoming surge:

NairobiCapital city. Largest county. Not yet active on eGP.

MombasaSecond city. Port county. Not yet active.

KiambuNairobi's neighbour. One of Kenya's wealthiest counties. Not yet active.

Nakuru4th most populous. Rift Valley hub. Not yet active.

Uasin GishuEldoret. Major commercial centre. Not yet active.

Central Kenya: Nyeri, Kirinyaga, Nyandarua, Meru, Embu
Eastern Kenya: Kitui, Makueni, Tana River
Coast: Kwale, Kilifi, Taita-Taveta
Northern/Arid: Garissa, Wajir, Mandera, Marsabit, Isiolo, Turkana
Rift Valley: Laikipia, Narok, Kericho
Western: Bungoma, Kisii, Nyamira

Note: derived from public data as of May 2026. The eGP portal is dynamic — check egpkenya.go.ke for latest status.

The Kisumu Story: What the Leading County Did Right

How did Kisumu — not Nairobi, not Mombasa, not Kiambu — end up with 467 contracts and KES 1.39 billion flowing through eGP?

Early adoption. Kisumu's county procurement office committed to the platform before it was legally mandatory and pushed its supplier community to register early. The county's procurement notices started flowing through eGP when most of the country was still treating the platform as optional.

The result: Kisumu-based suppliers who registered early got first access to a pipeline that now represents over a billion shillings in contracts. Nairobi suppliers — in Kenya's biggest economic hub — got nothing from eGP in that same period. Because their county government hasn't activated.

The most important lesson in the entire eGP story:

The SMEs who move early win.

July 1 Changes Everything — Including for Your County

Starting July 1, 2026, eGP participation is mandatory for ALL government entities — national and county. Every county that currently has zero active eGP contracts will be legally required to route their procurement through the platform.

Nairobi. Mombasa. Kiambu. Nakuru. All 27 inactive counties.

When they activate, procurement opportunities that have been sitting in analogue systems — paper tenders, physical notice boards, relationships-based awards — will move to eGP. The contract values in these counties dwarf what Kisumu and Siaya have posted so far.

The suppliers already registered on eGP when Nairobi activates will have a meaningful head start over everyone scrambling to register after the fact.

The NYOTA Connection

If you received a NYOTA disbursement this week — first, congratulations. That capital is a start.

But 98% of NYOTA Phase 1 recipients started businesses. Capital without income is just a timer counting down.

Government tenders through eGP are recurring income. The kind of income that pays salaries, builds teams, and turns a “business” into a company.

The path:

NYOTA capital→AGPO registration→eGP registration→TenderAI→First government contract

That sequence is available to you right now. The window before Nairobi and Mombasa activate is closing.

How to Know When Your County Goes Live

This is the practical problem: you'd have to check egpkenya.go.ke manually, regularly, across all 47 counties, to know when your county activates and what contracts are available.

Nobody has time for that.

TenderAI monitors all 47 counties, plus national ministry portals, plus PPRA tender notices. When a county goes live and posts tenders in your business category, we surface it to you — with the deadline, the requirements, and AI-generated bid assistance.

When Nairobi activates — and it will, July 1 makes it a legal requirement — TenderAI users will know before it hits the news.

The Bottom Line

Kisumu figured it out first. KES 1.39 billion in contracts later, the lesson is clear: early movers win.

Twenty counties are already on eGP. Twenty-seven more are coming — including Kenya's biggest economic centres.

You don't need to wait for your county to activate. You need to be registered and ready when it does.

Sources: CS John Mbadi statement on 1,543 registered entities (EastleighVoice, May 2026); Kisumu/Siaya contract data (EastleighVoice); NYOTA Phase 1 business formation rate (Citizen Digital); egpkenya.go.ke procuring entities database.