By Mama A. Touray
Gambia Public Procurement Authority’s Director of Procurement Policy has revealed at the ongoing Local Government Commission of Inquiry (LGCI) that the Basse Area Council 2020 and 2021 compliance reports revealed no contracts committee for the council.
Ebrima Sanyang who continued his testimony on Wednesday said there was no contracts committee at the Basse Area Council and the Gambia Public Procurement Authority Act provides for the appointment of the members of the Contracts Committee and without an appointment, one cannot establish whether there was a Contract Committee or not.
He emphasised that “For the Basse Area Council, there was no appointment for the members of the Contracts Committee.”
He also noted that the procurements were not part of the procurement plan and some of the single-source transactions were above the threshold of single sourcing.
Where the value is above the threshold, he continued, it should have been taken to GPPA for approval but the Basse Area Council was not doing that. Adding that procurement should be subjected to competition.
According to him, Basse Area Council in 2020, paid Five Thousand Six Hundred dalasi (D5,600) to Lamin S. Touray through Single Source for the Maintenance of the vehicle, Two Thousand Dalasi (D2000) to Kodeh Danjo through Single Source for Catering Services and Two Hundred Thousand (D200,000) to Jah Oil through single sourcing for Procurement of Fuel.
He added that the council also paid twenty-Five Thousand Four Hundred and Seventy-Five dalasi (D25,475) awarded to Next Level Stationery through a request for quotation for Procurement of Stationery.
For 2021, he told the commission that the Basse Area Council paid seventy Thousand Dalasi (D70,000) to Muhammed Salieu Bah through a Request for Quotation for the construction of Basse Sandika and also drilled a borehole for Three Million Four Hundred and Twenty-One Thousand Seven Hundred and Forty Dalasi (D3, 421,740) to Jariga Camara through single sourcing.
