Ebrima S. Jallow
The Director of Procurement at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs has said that it will not be business as usual in procurement management, urging officers to work hard to ensure that corruption is eradicated in the procurement system.
Dr. John Solomon Jatta was speaking at the opening of a 3-day workshop at Sunset Beach Hotel to discuss the Gambia Public Procurement Act (GPPA ACT) and other important tools of procurement work.
He said procurement officers have the potential to sink or uplift this country with the work they do. Therefore, he encouraged them to adhere to the ethical principles surrounding their work.
He thanked the Ministry of Finance for ensuring that the cadre is backed by law.
In his deliberation, the head of the Gambia Public Procurement Institute, Mr. Gomez told participants that the GPPA Act must be taken seriously by officers as they keep their holy books.
“The Act is your Quran/Bible. Read it, understand it and execute it. You will save yourselves, your institutions, and the country”, he said.
Mr. Modou Ceesay, the Director General of Internal Audit, spoke at length about procurement fraud and red flags.
He pointed out that procurement fraud is one of the biggest areas of fraudulent loss for both central and local government departments. He added that its impact is cross-cutting and that the true financial costs and opportunity costs are difficult to qualify.
“The consequences from procurement fraud are more than just the financial loss. They include the risk of reputational damage, low staff morale, increased workload in detecting procurement fraud, increased resources needed for investigations, and operational impact from the loss of supply of goods, services, and finance”. He added.
At the end of the training, participants took turns to express their experiences: successes, and challenges in the execution of their work.
