Procurement no longer an incentive to steal from state - Safo

The Procurement Minister says government is putting up stringent measures to discourage people from using procurement to steal from the public purse.

According to Sarah Adwoa Safo, 65 percent of the country’s revenue goes into procurement thereby making it a fertile arena for corruption.

The Deputy Majority Leader said her Ministry established by the President, has been busy developing and formulating procurement policies that will check those who fleece the system.

Speaking at a panel discussion by the IMF/World Bank in Washington DC, last Friday, the Dome-Kwabenya legislator said the institution’s new procurement framework can create a better enabling environment for businesses and better value for clients.

Safo stressed that transparency and the use of the right methods to procure for the government, are some of the priority areas the government is focusing on in order to achieve value for money.

According to her, the innovations that the World Bank is seeking to introduce sit very well with what her Ministry is doing now.

The panel was composed of renowned international procurement experts at the World Bank including; Manuel Ferro, Vice-President, Operations Policy and Country Services as well as Enzo De Laurentiis, Chief Procurement Officer, Standards, Procurement, and Financial Management, Operations Policy and Country Services.

Other discussants were Urika Modéer, State Secretary to the Minister for International Development Cooperation and Climate, Government of Sweden; Roger Fiszelson, Advisor, MEDEF Business Confederation and Confederation of International Contractors’ Association, France and Gary Litman, Vice-President for Global Initiatives, U. S. Chamber of Commerce.

The panellists focused on the theme: “Innovations in Competitive Procurement: How the World Bank’s New Procurement Framework Balances Development Needs with Market Opportunity”.

The event which was moderated by Tanya Beckett, an International Journalist, brought together senior representatives of international businesses, chambers of commerce, client governments and World Bank Senior management.

Background

In July 2016, the World Bank launched a new Procurement Framework, which maximizes the strategic role of procurement in achieving development goals by:

• Recognizing that countries are to be more efficient in their public spending so that they can invest more in basic public services such as education, health and infrastructure services and enrich development outcomes,

• Modernizing procurement to emphasize fit-for-purpose, choice, quality, and greater value for public spending, while enabling adaptation to country contexts,

• Promoting strengthened national procurement systems that are empowered to support sustainable development objectives and,

• Increasing transparency in public spending by taking advantage of ICT tools in public procurement.