The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), Mr Frank Mantey, has urged various heads of institutions to be cautious in the conduct of procurement to avoid preventable mistakes that could land them in trouble.
He said “procurement is not a light matter therefore always ensure your back is covered while discharging your duties. In case of infractions, it is always the heads of institutions that are made liable, so you must all the time take it upon yourself to discharge your duties with circumspection.”
The CEO gave the advise at the closing of training of more than 40 representatives from the Regional Coordinating Councils (RCC)and Municipal Assemblies in the Southern Sector of the country, on the Ghana Electronic Procurement System (GHANEPS).
According to Mr Mantey, GHANEP is aimed at transforming Ghana’s public procurement system from the manual to electronic, adding that the system was an internationally recognised one with enormous benefits including promotion of transparency and improving efficient procurement.
Beyond the training, he mentioned that his outfit would occasionally deploy some personnel to various institution to ensure users were coping well with the new system and challenges addressed.
He revealed that the system was also user friendly, adding that the trainees must take the tutorials seriously, as government had invested so much into the project.
“The system is here to help all of us so let us all play our part in ensuring that GHANEP is fully implemented for the betterment of the whole country,” he added.
Deputy CEO of PPA, Mr Kwame Prempeh, in his remarkssaid the introduction of GHANEP formed part of government’s digitisation drive to improve the economy while seeking continuous improvement across all sectors.
He commended participants for their dedication and urged them to put all they had learnt to good use.
Meanwhile, participants expressed gratitude for the opportunity to upgrade themselves and assured that the training would not go waste as they would keep practicing what they were taught to improve upon the knowledge acquired.
The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of New Juabeng South (NJS), Koforidua, in the Eastern Region, Mr Isaac Appaw-Gyasi, who was among the trainees commended the PPA for the initiative, adding that GHANEP would save Ghana a lot of money
“This new system is definitely going to save our beloved country some money. We are surely going to put into practice whatever we have learnt throughout this training programme.”
“The manual system had a lot of challenges but with this new system, we will not encounter any problems as long as there is stable internet connection,” the MCE added.
BY RAISSA SAMBOU
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