Webmasters Kenya Limited, the firm behind the eCitizen platform, has been blacklisted from World Bank-funded projects for five years after it listed two individuals as ‘experts’ in a tender bid document for a project in Somalia financed by the multilateral lender.
The ‘experts’, however, later told investigators they had been listed by Webmasters for the job without their knowledge, sparking the debarment from World Bank projects.
The World Bank case against Webmasters Kenya Ltd and its founder and CEO James Ayugi is hinged on how the two unnamed professionals were presented as key personnel for a contract, with the firm confirming their availability during negotiations. The two later denied authorising the use of their CVs or participating in the assignment.
The World Bank’s Sanctions Board therefore found the company and Mr Ayugi liable for fraudulent and obstructive practices, imposing a minimum five-year debarment effective June 8, 2026.
“The respondents were found liable for fraudulent and obstructive practices. Specifically, the respondents misrepresented the availability of two key experts for a contract under a World Bank Group-financed project,” said the World Bank in an update posted on its website.
“The respondents also materially impeded the exercise of the bank’s inspection and audit rights by failing to meaningfully comply with the bank’s documentary requests in the context of an audit.”
The sanctions mean that Webmasters and Mr Ayugi cannot be awarded or benefit from World Bank-financed contracts for at least five years through June 7, 2031. They are also barred from acting as nominated subcontractors or service providers on such contracts, or participating in the preparation or implementation of World Bank-financed projects.
The decision extends the sanctions to affiliates under the direct or indirect control of Mr Ayugi or Webmasters.
The World Bank said it would notify other multilateral development banks participating in its cross-debarment arrangement “so that they may determine whether to enforce the declarations of ineligibility with respect to their own operations.”
Webmasters and Mr Ayugi can only be released from the sanction after the minimum period if the company adopts and implements a “credible integrity compliance programme” acceptable to the World Bank.
The case arose from two World Bank-financed projects in Somalia, including the Somalia Capacity Advancement, Livelihoods and Entrepreneurship through Digital Uplift project, under which Webmasters secured a contract for Business Automation Registration – Phase II.
In its proposal, the firm identified two individuals as key experts, attaching their CVs and certifications, stating that they were available for the assignment. Mr Ayugi signed the certifications and later confirmed their availability during contract negotiations.
However, the two experts later told the World Bank that they were unaware they had been designated as key personnel and had not authorised the use of their CVs or participated in the contract.
The Sanctions Board rejected the firm’s explanation that the inaccuracies were unintentional. It found that Mr Ayugi had acted “at least recklessly” by confirming the experts’ availability “on an admitted assumption that they would be available.”
The board found that indicating the experts were available directly supported Webmasters’ effort to secure the contract and allowed it to avoid an obligation to actually confirm their availability.
The board argued that the misrepresentation could have helped Webmasters secure the contract and obtain a prospective financial benefit of $98,000 (Sh12.7 million), representing the remuneration allocated to the two experts.
The board, however, did not find evidence that the amount was actually paid to the firm in connection with the two experts and therefore did not apply an additional penalty.
Webmasters and Mr Ayugi denied fraudulent conduct, arguing that they had believed in good faith that the experts were available and willing to participate. They described the inaccurate statements as “administrative”, “inadvertent” and immaterial to the evaluation outcome and denied any intention to mislead the project authorities to obtain an improper advantage.
The respondents also contested the obstruction finding, saying they had provided all records in their possession and that any gaps resulted from “ordinary record-keeping limitations associated with a start-up enterprise.”
It noted that Webmasters had operated for more than 10 years, completed hundreds of projects in more than 10 countries, and employed about 100 permanent staff. It also noted that the firm had secured three contracts under the two World Bank-financed projects worth a combined $959,711 (Sh124.2 million).
The audit began in November 2022 when the World Bank requested a range of records relating to the contracts. After 10 reminders, some documents were eventually submitted, but accounting records, invoices and other material remained outstanding. Further follow-up emails went unanswered.
The board concluded that the failure to “meaningfully” comply with the documentary requests materially impeded the World Bank’s inspection and audit rights.
The sanctions come as Webmasters Kenya’s role in eCitizen has attracted public attention over the ownership and operation of the digital platform, which has become a key channel for accessing government services.
Webmasters Kenya developed and owns the core engine behind the eCitizen portal, which is the government’s main digital services platform through which citizens and businesses access a range of public services at a fee.
The company, founded and led by Mr Ayugi, operates within a private vendor consortium that provides technical maintenance, single sign-on architecture, and aggregation services for eCitizen.
