A call has gone out to Civil Society Organisations to take an aggressive approach in empowering people in the grassroots with relevant information on Public Procurement Asset Disposal Matters. This call came after presentation of Baseline Findings for Civic Participation in Public Procurement for Better Public Resource Allocation (CPPP-BPRA) Project which took place on Friday, 13 December 2019 at Crossroads Hotel in Lilongwe.
The national Interface had attracted representatives from NGOs, District and Sector Networks, Government Agencies, Chiefs and Development Partners. Highlighting the findings in summary, Executive Director for CONGOMA Ronald Mtonga said that major setbacks affecting Public Procurement processes in Local Councils indicated in the Baseline report include; poor record keeping, Political Interference, Capacity not being there for estimation of prices & contract negotiations.
Based on the findings, it was also noted that the challenges keep on recurring because rights holders do not fully hold duty bearers accountable for they lack information as most of the guide documents are in English, a language which many do not understand plus a number of them are not aware of necessary procedures concerning procurement processes at the Councils.
According Chairperson for Phalombe District Network Richard Muluzi, people in the Grassroots fail to hold duty bearers accountable because they are not empowered with necessary information.
“We have guidelines for Local Development Fund, Constituency Development Fund and other Procurement Processes in English. We as CSOs are supposed to translate that to vernacular language and share with the Community Structures. Communities are capable but they do not have that simplified information”, explained Muluzi.
In agreeing with Muluzi, Chief Sosola from Balaka District said that ordinary citizens needed to be enlightened on how procurement processes are handled and how the locals can actively participate to ensure that development projects meet the needs of rights holders.
Commenting on the same issue, Director of Planning and Development from Rumphi District Frank Mkandawire said there was need for special session among members of the community to understand better on how procurement processes are handled at the Councils.
CONGOMA is carrying out (CPPP-BPRA) Project in three Districts namely Lilongwe, Rumphi and Balaka with financial Support from the European Union through Tilitonse Foundation. The project focuses on Monitoring Procurement Processes in Local Councils.
In support of this project; Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Chief Professional Development Officer Peter Makawa said Procurement processes needed to be properly managed as National Budget is implemented predominantly through Public Procurement where over 70 percent of resources are spent through Public Procurement Systems.
In summary, the national interface agreed that the project should be scaled up to cover more Districts and not only the current ones of Balaka, Lilongwe and Rumphi.
In addition, it was agreed to re-look at the concept of Constituency Development Fund (CDF) and deal with political interference in its implementation. Participants looked forward to the second phase of procurement assessment in January 2020.
The project is being funded by European Union through Tilitonse Foundation.