By Lewis S. Teh
The executive director of the Public Procurement Concession Commission (PPCC) Attorney Jarbe Roseline Nagbe Kowo, urges journalists and civil society organizations to report balance and accurate information about the Commission that requires public attention.
“Today we want to welcome you to this workshop; this is a continuation of our engagement with the media and CSOs in terms of having regular training on the workings of the PPCC”, director Kowo says.
She made the call over the weekend at the Kakata City Hall in Margibi County during a one-day public procurement awareness engagement with the media and CSOs.
Attorney Kowo stresses the main objective of the engagement is to bring the media and CSOs together and keep them abreast of activities of the PPCC to enable both groups to report on procurement to relate matters accurately.
According to the PPCC Boss, basically, the goal of the Commission is to realize its aspirations which include targeting transparency, promoting accountability and fairness in all procurement competitions and processes as well as maximizing efficiency for the economic development of Liberia.
“Most of the work we do at PPCC is to be able to realize the aspirations of the PPC Act on a daily basis”, Atty. Kowo says and notes that every governmental institution has its own way of procuring things, but in the end, such procurement must benefit the citizenry and the society at large.
She says in order for the citizenry and the society to benefit from every procurement, the rightful processes have to be in place and that procedures in procurement are vital, noting that’s why the PPCC intent is to ensure fairness, transparency and make sure procurement entities follow the rules for the effective running of the state.
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Among topics covered during the engagement, were PPC’s mandate and responsibilities and the media and CSOs roles in public procurement; the media & civil society in enforcing procurement compliance; building synergies with the media and civil society groups to enhance national development, understanding the key compliance requirements of the PPCA and the complaints process.
Also in remarks, the Executive Director of the Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia or CENTAL, Anderson Maimen applauds efforts of the PPCC in hosting the one-day media engagement with CSOs and media institutions.
“As previous speakers have indicated, public procurement is an integral part of our governance system in our different places of work, we engage with procurement-related matters on a daily basis”, says Mr. Maimen.
According to him, as a transparency institution, CENTAL sees procurement as one of the biggest risk areas, adding that where a lot of synergies take place.
“Since public procurement is considered one of those areas of national concern here in Liberia and other countries, the PPCC, CSOs, and the media need to do a lot more collectively to improve accountability, transparency, and integrity in our procurement related activities”, he adds.
For his part, the national secretary-general of the national civil society council of Liberia Jeremiah S. Swen describes the conduct of the one-day engagement as a one-step forward to promoting transparency.
“Today we believe that this is important for PPCC to continue these engagements with CSOs and the media and ensuring that the existing policies are popularized.” He says the popularization of those policies will enhance knowledge-based reporting.
“This engagement is also important because PPCC work is to ensure check and balance and making sure that government institutions [are] in full compliance with regards to bidding, purchasing and others”, Mr. Swen adds.
The one-day engagement, which is the second in a series, brought together several journalists from various media institutions both print and electronics, and CSOs in Montserrado and its environs under the auspices of the United Nations Development Program.https://thenewdawnliberia.com/ppcc-commences-compliance-monitoring/ Editing by Jonathan Browne
