By Mama A. Touray
Director of Procurement Policy and Operations at Gambia Public Procurement Authority (GPPA), EbrimaSanyang has highlighted the implications of violating procurement laws at Mansakonko Area Council.
As the Local Government Commission of Inquiry (LGCI) continued in their findings at the Djembe Hotel in Senegambia on his fourth appearance, he said “There was a total disregard of the Act and the Regulations, and it is implication is that procurements might be individualized for personal gains since there is lack of proper control and supervision on the side of the procurement unit. With that, accountability and transparency cannot be assured in such type of system”.
He stated that it can also cause the use of wrong procedures, which can lead to wrong award decisions.
Mr. Sanyang also informed the commission that Council did not also provide its organogram to the team to review and ascertain the independency of the procurement unit.
More so, he said the review team also observed that the procurement unit was under the Finance Department and such can lead to a conflict of interest and there is a risk that the procurement unit may not be independent in their operation and also procurement may be delayed”.
He, therefore, recommended that the procurement unit be under the Chief Executive Officer.
He told the commission that the Mansakonko Area Council procurement unit was headed by Baba Trawallyand assisted by Ebrima Saidyleigh, and that the procurement unit does not prepare and submit GPPA reports as required under the Act and Regulation.
“The procurement unit does not coordinate the evaluation of quotations received from the suppliers and it does not ensure that the suppliers signed the purchase order prepared. Mansakonko Area Council does not include the evaluation criteria in the document they sent to the suppliers in some procurement transactions. The head of the SPU does not act as the secretary to the contracts committee” Sanyang explained to the commission.
He further highlighted the implications of violating procurement laws, stating that transparency of the procurement process could be compromised and the non-signing of the purchase order by suppliers may lead to potential conflict especially, if the supplier default in his duties under the contract.
In the absence of evaluation criteria, he said, it may lead to the wrong award decision since there are no definitive bases for the award.
“If the procurement unit is not doing all these, it means it is being done by someone. It flouts the transparency rules. The members of the Contracts Committee were not formally appointed and did not carry out their functions as required by law,” the witness said.
Director Sanyang, however, stated that the non-compliant issues at Mansakonko Area Council are no minutes of the contracts committee meeting, no inspections committee, no evaluation reports, no delivery notes, and some of the procurements were not part of the procurement plan. And that some of the documentation was not completed.
