By Mama A. Touray
Gambia Public Procurement Authority’s Director of Procurement Policy and Operations, Ebrima Sanyang on Monday continued his testimony on Kuntuar Area Council’s violation of procurement laws.
Director Sanyang continued his testimony before the ongoing local Government Commission of Inquiry at Djembe Hotel in Senegambia saying the Local Government Act mandates the area councils to coordinate development issues within their local government area. They use revenue generated within the council coupled with subventions from the central government to carry on their development initiatives.
Testifying on the 2022 report for Kuntuar Area Council, Sanyang revealed that there were Two Hundred and Seventy-Two (272) transactions out of which, Two Hundred and Fifty-Eight transactions of single sourcing amounting to One Million Nine Hundred and Eight Thousand Six Hundred Forty-Five Dalasi and Eight Bututs (D1,908,645).
Additionally, he added that there were eleven (11) transactions conducted through Request for Quotation amounting to One Million Five Hundred and Seventy-Eight Thousand Nine Hundred and Seventy-Six Dalasi (D1,578,976). And that, there were three (3) transactions done through restricted tender to the tune of One Million Four Hundred and Forty-Four Thousand Three Hundred and Thirty-Four Dalasi (D1,444,334).
Sanyang stated that GPPA observed that the procurement unit was not involved in most of the procurement transactions for 2022 and that people outside the procurement unit of the Area Council were conducting most of the procurements.
He told the commission that the Kuntuar Area Council did not have an annual procurement plan and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) failed to appoint members of the inspection and acceptance committee, describing it as a violation of the GPPA Act.
The contracts committee members at the Kuntuar Area Council, he listed, were Momodou Sambou – the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Saikou Jawara –Chairman of the Kuntaur Area Council, Morro Keita – Finance Director and Mamadi Camara – Procurement Clerk.
GPPA further observed that 96.6% of the procurement transactions were done through Single Sourcing, which GPPA said was not the most competitive method in procurement, adding that the steps for single source were not completed by Kuntuar Area Council.
“The steps for single sourcing include adherence to the threshold requirement and there must be approval from the contracts committee, there must be receipts, purchase orders, and evaluation among other steps. And the chairman of the contracts committee is the chairman of the Kuntuar Area Council, and that is wrong he explained to the commission.
“It is against the law. It is not correct,” Sanyang said. Adding that, the CEO did not appoint members of the required committees such as evaluation committee, examination and receipts committee, inspection committee, and others.“They did not have all these committees in place,” Sanyang said.
He pointed out that the Kuntuar Area Council did not put the payment vouchers in the same file as the GPPA Forms, which made their work cumbersome. He said there were incomplete purchase orders that were not signed by the contracts committee.
However, he noted that Kuntaur Area Council did not have a procurement plan, explaining that “When you don’t have a procurement plan, any procurement conducted will be regarded as improper”.
He added that the number captured in the specific findings chapter did not adequately represent the transactions.
Saying that Kuntaur Area Council purchased spare parts worth Four Hundred Thousand Dalasi (D400,000), One Hundred Thousand Dalasi (D100,000), and Sixty-Eight Thousand Dalasi (D68,000).
