By Mama A. Touray
The Director of Procurement Policy from the Gambia Public Procurement Authority (GPPA) has disclosed that the BrikamaArea Council hired a bulldozer at the rate of D65,000.00 through single sourcing noting that, the amount involved is above the threshold for single sourcing.
Ebrima Sanyang, in his testimony, on Monday disclosed this at the Local Government Commission of Inquiry (LGCI) held at Djembe Hotel, Senegambia.
According to him, the threshold for using single sourcing is Twenty Thousand Dalasi (D20,000) for goods and services while Fifty Thousand Dalasi (D50,000) for works. He disclosed “This transaction was not part of the procurement plan and was not approved by the contracts committee. There was also no inspection committee and there was no minute of the Contracts Committee, there was, no evaluation report generated from the procurement”.
He also revealed to the Commission that Brikama Area Council purchased office equipment to the tune of Seventy-Six Thousand Five Hundred and Ninety dalasi (D76,590) through single sourcing and the amount involved was above the threshold of single sourcing, too. While other findings are the same as the ones mentioned in the previous transactions.
“The Brikama Area Council also purchased 5 HP at the tune of Thirty-Two Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy-Five Dalasi (D32,775) which was also above the threshold. The BrikamaArea Council also purchased Inner Tune Three Thousand dalasi (D3,000) though it was within the threshold of single sourcing”. The same findings were made as mentioned in the other transactions such as lack of approval by the Contracts Committee” he said.
Again, according to Sanyang, Brikama Area Council also purchased a Samsung Mobile Phone for Twelve Thousand dalasi (D12,000) from Global Electricity through single sourcing. “The amount was within the threshold of single sourcing but the Brikama Area Council failed to adhere to procurement laws and rules such as no minutes of the Contracts Committee, no approval by the Contracts Committee, no receipts, no delivery notes, and no purchase orders raised among others”.
“In 2019, there was no procurement plan for the Brikama Area Council,” the witness said.
Director Sanyang cited the similarities in the findings made in 2019 and 2020 on non-compliance issues, stating that there was no formal appointment of members of the Contracts Committee and there were no specifications of procurements.
He added that the contracts committee did not approve the transactions and there was an absence of receipts, delivery notes, and evaluation reports.
He explained further that there were no minutes of Contracts Committee meetings regarding the procurements. “The BrikamaArea Council spent Nine Hundred and Sixty-Seven Thousand Six Hundred and Eighty Dalasi (D967, 680) for the purchase of 25 kilograms of rice through single sourcing. And the amount involved was excessively beyond the threshold of single sourcing, which is Twenty Thousand Dalasi (D20,000)”.
