Liberia’s Public Procurement and Concession Commission (PPCC) raises a red flag here, against procuring and concession granting agencies to stop breaching rules and regulations governing government procurement process.
Speaking recently in an exclusive interview at the Commission head office on Capitol Hill, Executive Director, Atty. Jargbe Rosaline Nagbe Kowo called on government to make it mandatory that all heads of entities follow procedures of the Public Procurement and Concession Act (PPCA).
The call comes few days after President George Manneh Weah failed to follow the PPCC regulations in awarding the Roberts International Airport road modernization project. The contract was awarded to East International outside the PPCC standards and without legislative input.
According to Atty. Kowo, government the Pro Poor Agenda for Development for Prosperity (PADP) has sectors – pillar four deals with transparency in eliminating corruption, which she said is a major part the PPCC has to play in.She added that the Commission is trying its best to work with concession granting entities to follow the rules and procedures.
Accordingly, the PPCC boss noted that if the entity has that level of compliance to the Act, it would move in direction promoting transparency and good governance.
“There have been lot of progress, and we have a continuous collaboration with our stakeholders leading to trainings and at the same time engaging everyone to come on board, so that we can do what is required for national development”, she explained.She disclosed that in November 2019, the PPCC launched a very informative program in adherence to the law of the commission.
The program, she said is to inspect and monitor all entities in line with the PPCA.
Atty. Kowo asserted that the campaign entails rotational visitation to procuring and concession entities to ensure procurement planning properly and follow the rules and regulations.
Amid government’s budgetary challenges, she noted that the commission is engaging partners to help with some of projects and programs, adding, “We have collaboration with the GoL, African Development Bank, and the World Bank to carry out the E-Procurement.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1]
The E-Procurement according to Madam Kowo, is a transition from manual to digital, where entities will carry out procurement processes with efficiency and open competition.
In conclusion the PPCC boss pledged to partner with the media in order to understand the work of the entity to report on procurement and concession activities from an informed position, adding that the media is a conduit to promote good governance and transparency for national development.By E. J. Nathaniel Daygbor– Editing by Jonathan Browne
