The Directorate of Procurement at the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday 13th April, 2022 updated Procurement Officers across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) on new reforms undertaken by the Ministry in line with the Public Financial Management (PFM) Act, contract management and issues of Redenomination of the Leones to procurement
In his opening statement, Acting Deputy Director of the Directorate, Michael Lahai Swarray, welcomed the Procurement Officers at the meeting, noting that the Directorate is impressed with the turn-up given the time the information was released from the Directorate.
He furthered that as Procurement Officers in the MDAs, their role is very key in the implementation of activities in their respective MDAs.
Mr. Swarray also highlighted the issue of welfare as one of the issues as well as others bordering on the effective and efficient delivery of their duties.
In his statement, Director of the Directorate, Fodie Konneh, said currently there are ongoing Public Financial Management Reforms which procurement practitioners need to know about, adding that the Ministry of Finance has agreed that going forward, all MDAs will receive their quarterly allocations on time and execute their activities through their Ministries. He furthered that going forward, allocation processing will be done at the Ministry level and therefore, procurement activities will also be done at the Ministry level except for procurement meant for Capital Development and that all Procurement Plans will remain the same.
In that regard, Director Konneh called on Procurement Officers to bring to the attention of the Directorate any challenges or difficulties they face at their respective postings. He reminded them of their duty in the management of state resources. “If a Vote Controller spends money that is not in line with the Procurement Act, the Procurement Officer should resist such act as you are still accountable to Audit and ACC,” Director Konneh.
On the issue of redenomination of the currency, the Director said the existing contract that will be rolling over will be affected. He therefore urged practitioners to be mindful of the fact that three zeros will be knocked off the new currency, stating that after the implementation of the redenomination of the Leones, Procurement Officers should re-value the contract to meet the new Leones.
Procurement Officers at the meeting expressed appreciation to the Directorate for such an educative engagement and requested more engagements, capacity building and improved terms and conditions of service amongst others.
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