By Mama A. Touray
The Director of Procurement Policy at the Gambia Public Procurement Authority (GPPA), Ebrima Sanyang, on Monday, gave detailed testimony on the procurement report of BrikamaArea Council before the Local Government Commission of Inquiry (LGCI) at Djembe Hotel in Senegambia.
Testifying on the contracts management, Mr. Sanyang said Brikama Area Council does not have an inspection and examination committee and no management to oversee the procurement processes; also there were no contract documents in place for most of the transactions, especially, regarding, fuel purchase.
He testified that the absence of this affects the procurement process since these are requirements of the law.
Mr. Sanyang cited section 47 (1) of the GPPA 2018 Act which made it mandatory for the area councils to establish contracts committees and supported by a procurement unit. He stated that the contracts committee of an Area Council has three (3) permanent members namely: the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), the Director of Finance, and the Procurement Officer in addition to other co-opted members.
He added that the contracts committee is wholly and solely responsible for planning, processing, and procedures of procurement, providing specifications, and contracts management.
The witness was asked whether the Brikama Area Council has a Contracts Committee, but he wanted to rely on convenience to say since the law provided for it, the area council has it. The Counsel wanted evidence from the report to show that the Brikama Area Council had a contracts committee, but the witness could not provide evidence.
He as well informed the Commission that “Brikama Area Council’s ledger provided the purchase of fuel cost worth Nine Million Five Hundred and Forty-Five Thousand, Nine Hundred and Thirty-Three Dalasi Seventy-Eight Bututs (D9,545,933.78) but in the documents provided to the review team was Four Million Two Hundred and One Thousand Nine Hundred and Sixty-Six Dalasi Forty-Nine Bututs (D4,201,966.49)”.
Director Sanyang further informed the commission that BrikamaArea Council did not provide the review team documents and therefore, they could not account for the missing funds.
“The total as per the documents was less than the total in the ledger. It could be deliberate that some of the documents were hidden from the review team,” he said.
He told the Commission that the review team could not account for the remainder of the money amounting to about Five Million Dalasi, that there were no receipts, and that also, it is possible that the fuel was not supplied. Sanyang said all fuel purchased should be by tender, but due process was not followed.
Meanwhile, the Procurement Policy Director also informed the Commission that Brikama Area Council purchased goods worth Seventy Thousand One Hundred and Fifty Dalasi (D70,150). Adding that the procurement of those goods was not part of the procurement plan of the Brikama Area Council and the Contracts Committee did not approve it.
He continued that there was no delivery receipt and there were no delivery notes for this transaction while disclosing that there was no evidence of delivery of the goods to the Brikama Area Council by the supplier.
“In another transaction, Brikama Area Council purchased spare parts to the tune of Twenty-Six Thousand (D26,000) through a request for quotation. This was not part of Brikama Area Council’s procurement plan and the procurement was not approved by the Contracts Committee. There were no minutes of the Contracts Committee meeting about this particular procurement,” Director Sanyang disclosed to the commission.
In another transaction, he explained that the Brikama Area Council purchased tiles worth One Hundred and Five Thousand (D105,000) through a request for quotation. “Like the previous one, 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 said Brikama Area Council also purchased goods amounting to Four Hundred Thousand Dalasi (D400,000) through a request for quotation. And that similar finding were made as mentioned in the previous procurements.