By Ralph Sesay
President Julius Maada Bio has met his election manifesto campaign promise of ensuring that he uses innovation to support the much needed development in Sierra Leone by finally instituting digital processes and E-Procurement in the country’s procurement sector.
The introduction for the first time in Sierra Leone of an innovation Office and Officer in the office of the President was to deliberately guide the country’s innovative drive in all development sectors.
The introduction of E-Procurement into the country’s procurement sector is in doubt a direct response to the President call to block all leakages in the country’s then porous procurement system during his election campaign.The move from manual to digital procurement will in doubt increase transparency and fairness in the process as well as eliminate corruption since seventy percent of the country’s resources goes into the procurement of goods and services.
Sierra Leone with support from the World Bank is set to commence the E Procurement process after having assess the readiness of the various sectors. Accommodations and other necessary logistical support have been provided while staffing arrangements will soon be sorted out in the not too distant future.
This is according to the Chief Executive Officer of the National Public Procurement Authority, Mr.Brima Ibrahim Swarray.
The commencement of the E-Procurement process has taken into consideration the huge capacity building challenges confronting procurement professionals, members of the business community and other interest groups and it is against this backdrop that adequate training will be provided for all of these players before the eventual start of the actual implementation process in the country.
Sierra Leone Procurement process was in shambles before the new administration took up office, procurement processes were hugely flouted leading to the loss of billions of dollars.The introduction of the E-Procurement which is an international best practice will reduce wastages and save the much needed resources for other state priority projects while also increasing donor confidence in the country’s financial system.
As Sierra Leone Takes On E-Procurement… NPPA Goes Digital
