President George Manneh Weah has said that for Liberia to achieve greatness, Government stakeholders should put the country first over personal interests in order to achieve national developmental goal.
The Liberian leader called on the PPCC to put integrity, fairness as well as legally-applied procedures at the front-burner in the discharge of its duties, when reviewing procurement issues.
President Weah urged the Commission to put country, and not personal interest, first in order to achieve overall national development goals. The president described integrity as the bedrock of national development while stressing that its importance could not be over-emphasised.
The Liberian leader urged the Public Procurement Concession Commission PPCC as part of their job, should ensure that all reviews of procurement issues must be free, fair and according to the laws of Liberia and that they should not use their positions to favor one group over the other.
“Promoting self-interest over the interest of the society is unacceptable, so we urge all of you to put your country first in order to achieve our development goals”, he re-emphasized.
“As it is often said, ‘he who seeks equity must come with clean hands,’” the Chief Executive noted, adding: “I therefore want to caution all the Commissioners and Executives of the PPCC not to stall national development efforts because of personal interest.
All reviews of procurement issues must be free, fair and according to the laws of Liberia, not using your positions to favor one group over the other.” the President cautioned.
He reiterated that the PPCC must ensured that the country’s already scarce resources are effectively and judiciously managed, and that contracts and concessions meet all requirements in accordance with law.
President George Manneh Weah, spoke Wednesday, 1st December 2021, at the Official Opening of the Third Annual PPCC Forum in oldest Congo Town, President Weah accentuated the importance of the Commission in reviewing and making assessments of what needs to be done to improve effectiveness, as the institution is central to his administration’s drive to bring integrity to the overall governance process.
President Weah also put the holding of an Annual Review Meeting of the PPCC to make an assessment of what the Commission needs to do to improve its effectiveness was highly important because the PPCC is central to his Administration’s drive to bring integrity to the overall governance process.
Delivering the Forum’s overview on the Theme: “Innovation and Reforms: Strengthening Liberia’s Public Procurement System”, the Commission Executive Director Atty. Jargbe Roseline Nagbe-Kowo said the event is in line with the CDC government Pro-poor Agenda which seeks to promote good governance.
She said with support from key stakeholders in the country PPCC can achieve national compliances for national development.
According to Atty. Jargbe Roseline Nagbe-kowo, the importance of the forum’s which seek the modernization of the public procurement sector of Liberia.
She said a digitalised Procurement sector will smoothly run the commission in the reviewing of public procurement contracts and others concessions agreement.
Atty.Kowo said the reviewing of procurement contracts and other compliance agreement could be conducted electronically”, Atty. Nagbe-kowo, explained.
The PPCC Boss also said a well-functioning procurement system in Liberia by employing the necessary tools to digitize procurement and ensure effectiveness and efficiency in public procurement.
Atty.Kowo said a successful public procurement is largely reliant on a robust, informed, resourced, and equipped private sector, which must be digitalized.
Atty. Roseline Nagbe-kowo, used the occasion to urged Stakeholders, especially the private sector, development partners and the civil society organization to continue to yearn for good procurements practices and adherence to policies and standards set by the PPCC as the regulatory body,” She emphasized.
Other speakers and panelists including the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Bhofar Chamber, Senate Pro-Tempro, Albert Chea, and among others National and International partners, the African Development Bank, World Bank, UNDP and CSOs Representatives, recounted their experiences with the implementation of the Public Procurement and Concession Act and hailed the Public Procurement and Concessions Commission for its vigilance in ensuring that compliance with the Public Procurement and Concession Act of Liberia is regulated and monitored.
Speaker Chamber, pledge the House of Representatives (HOR) commitments to standing by the PPCC as he urges them to be transparent and do away with sentiment or self-interests.
Meanwhile, It can be recalled in 2008, the first Annual National Procurement Forum was held following two years of implementing the Public Procurement and Concessions Act of 2005. Experiences shared by stakeholders and the outcome thereof informed the restatement and amendment of the 2005 Act.
It Also follow by the 2nd Annual National Procurement Forum was held by the PPCC and partners in 2016, with the objective of engaging and gathering feedbacks from relevant stakeholders on the implementation bottlenecks of the Restated and Amended Act of 2010. Part II, Section 5(i) of the PPC Act of 2010 mandates the PPCC to hold an annual procurement forum on the status of the implementation of the Act.
This year Forum is being funded by the World Bank Country office-Liberia, through the Integrated Public Financial Management Reform Project (IPFMRP) based in the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP).
[p;’/The IPFMRP project is the key driver of the public procurement modernization effort. It seeks to establish a well-functioning procurement system in Liberia by employing the necessary tools to digitize procurement and ensure effectiveness and efficiency in public procurement.
The Holding of the 2021 Annual National Procurement Forum is part of preliminary activities that will inform the establishment of an electronic procurement platform in Liberia and remove the anomalies and individual discretions often associated with paper-based procurement.
The Commission urges the public to join in the celebration as we together walk the Compliance Journey in Liberia to promote transparency, accountability and boost public confidence in the procurement and concessions processes.
