Procurement Authority saved GHC795m in 2018 first half; 1.6bn since 2017 - CEO

Government has saved over GHC1.6m since 2017 as a result of due diligence on the part of officials and the implementation of reforms at the Public Procurement Authority.

The reforms included the establishment of two new units charged with a mandate to scrutinise all procurement tenders and contracts and also review the procurement value chain from the process of awarding contracts to when the goods or services reach the final beneficiary.

Acknowledging the strides made by his outfit, CEO of the Public Procurement Authority attributed the savings made and progress with a more efficient procurement system to the ongoing initiatives.

Adjenim Adjei testified that the establishment of the two new units has further strengthened the Compliance and Monitoring Department to critically execute their mandate.

"The Authority has established two purpose driven operational units and three operational activities to enhance the credibility of our operations and processes. The units are the Due Diligence otherwise known as Value for money unit and the Procurement Investigations or Audit units. Through these initiatives, the Authority under its current leadership has made significant inroads towards the achievement of its mandate which includes safeguarding the public purse to ensure value for money and efficiency in public procurement processes. One such achievement in recent times has been the record savings on public expenditure to the tune of GHC800m for the year 2017 and another GHC795 million for the first half of 2018" he claimed.

Public Procurement Authority CEO was speaking at a roundtable discussion on the theme, "Improving Public Procurement Systems in Ghana" at the Coconut Grove Regency Hotel in Accra on Thursday while delivering his keynote address on "Improving Public Procurement Systems in Ghana: PPA's contribution to the fight against corruption"

He also revealed that the Authority intends to roll out an e-portal where contracts will be bid to reduce the chances of collusion and risks of defrauding the state.

Special Prosecutor to go after EC, Lotteries Authority officials

Adjenim Adjei also gave insight into recent investigations the Authority has conducted hinting of prosecutions in the near future.

He noted that but for the fact that the PPA has no prosecutorial powers, some officials of state institutions would have been dragged to court for procurement infractions.

The PPA CEO, however, explained that the documents detailing the findings of their investigations which was sent to the Attorney General for immediate action have been forwarded to the Special Prosecutor on his request.

He explained that the committee that found sacked EC official guilty of procurement infractions largely based their work on their findings.

"It is important to note that the Authority has in recent times conducted procurement investigations on procurement operations of a couple of state institutions and the reports of these audits have been forwarded to investigative bodies, in fact, we have now received information that the special prosecutor wants copies of these reports which are already with Attorney General and copies with EOCO" he detailed.