By Ragan Conteh
Child Fund International in Sierra Leone is swimming in a pool of procurement irregularities over the sale of one Toyota Land cruiser Prado as advertised in Standard Times Edition of Thursday 29 August, 2019.
The closing date for submission of bids as per the Newspaper advert was Wednesday, 11th September, 2019.
The conditions for bidding as per the advert also indicated that the vehicle will be sold to the highest bidder and that the winner must pay to the Finance Officer amongst others conditions.
One Umaru Saffa and Mr. Peter John Kanu, according to reports, submitted their bid documents to Child Fund International office on 10th September, 2019 before the close of the bid on Wednesday 11th September, 2019 by 3pm.
They indicated that since they submitted their bidding documents at the tender box, also wrote their names in the receptionist’s book at the counter, but that they have not received any further information from Child Fund International on the process.
Messers Saffa and Kanu added that because it has taken so long, they decided to visit the office on 17th October 2019 to enquire what had happened to the bidding process and to ascertain when the bids will be opened to bidders.
Mr. Saffa told nightwatch that upon visiting the Child Fund office, he met the procurement Officer who was in charge of the process and told him that the process was over.
According to Mr. Saffa, he further explained to him that the process was internal and members of the public were not supposed to take part in the process.
The response from the Procurement Officer was contrary to what was published by Child Fund International in the Standard Times Newspaper which had invited bids from the general public.
Mr. Saffa further told this medium that the Procurement Officer had responded rudely to him and so he decided to approach the Finance Officer, Mr. Alhaji, who told him that he was out of the country when the bidding notice was published and that he had no idea about the process.
I went back home with mixed feelings as to what had happened to the entire process relating to whether it was really transparent.
Mr. Saffa who told this medium that he was very much interested about the transparency around the procurement process by a reputable Child Fund organization working in Sierra Leone, took two other individuals and visited the office for the second time to further enquire about the process on Friday 18th October, 2019.
Their intention this time, Mr. Kanu indicated, was to have a clear discussion with the Child Fund International Country Representative with a view to know who won the bidding exercise and how the process went through.
During this second visit, a member of our team was present with a view to also understand what has gone wrong.
Staff of Child Fund International did not manage the bidders professionally who had simply gone to legitimately enquire what had gone wrong.
They had demanded that they have right to this since they had taken part in a bid advertised by Child Fund International to the public.
Staff of Child Fund International including the receptionist had openly abused the two men.
Mr. Saffa and another representative of one of the other bidders, Rachael William, expressed displeasure over the nonchalant and physical attacks meted on them by staff of a reputable international organization at their office. “We need justice” Rachael said.
The vehicle, according to sources within Child Fund, has been sold to a staff member of Child Fund International even though the Newspaper advert had called for members from the general public to submit bids.
Many onlookers who had witnessed the quarrel between the bidders and the staff of Child Fund International, expressed their disappointment over the lack of transparency displayed by a reputable Child Organization to Sierra Leoneans who were genuine to participate in the process.
Nightwatch Newspaper interviewed the Finance Officer of Child Fund International, Mr. Alhaji via telephone and he replied that the organization has no policy that mandates them to disclose their bidding process to anyone.
He continued that Mr. Umaru Saffa who is now calling journalists to probe his organization has won one of the bidding processes involving a disposal vehicle some three months ago and that he did not complain to journalist about the transparency of the process. Why now? The Finance Officer asked.
Child Fund International is not answerable to anyone, the organization has the mandate to donate or sell to whosoever the organization pleases. “This is a private institution,” he continued.
Mr. Alhaji also denied allegations that the vehicle was sold to staff of Child Fund International saying that the allegations, according to him, are baseless and unfounded.
The issue now at hand is why did such a reputable organization fail to show documentary evidence bothering on a process which is supposed to be public as was advertised?
It is our desire to investigate the issue further with a view to unearth the lapses in the process.