Chairman of the newly inaugurated Board of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Ekumfi, has promised to end “shortcuts” in procurement at the various ministries, departments and agencies of the state.
Professor Ameyaw-Ekumfi said for the public purse to be truly protected, procurement irregularities needed to be weeded out.
“We are going to work with the law and all the shortcuts in procurement will be done away with to assist the President and his government to ensure that the public purse is indeed protected,” Prof.Ameyaw- Ekumfi said.
He gave this assurance at the swearing in of the nine- member board in Accra yesterday.
Other members of the Board are Diana Asonaba Dapaah, a Deputy Minister of Justice, Frank Mantey, Hayford Amoh, Ernestina Swatson Eshun, Dr Alhassan Iddrisu, Samuel Richard New Baidoo, Isaac Kofi Amoah and Patricia Sarfo.
According to Prof Ameyaw-Ekumfi, a former Education Minister in the erstwhile John Agyekum Kufuor-led government, issues of procurement remained a very sensitive to the Ghanaian hence the need to treat same with diligence to give the citizenry value for money.
The Auditor-General’s reports over the years, he observed, had been repleted with procurement breaches, causing the state thousands of cedis; a trend he said the Board be chairs would be working to eliminate.
A Deputy Minister of Finance, Dr John Kumah, swearing the Board said it played an essential and pivotal role in application of the public financial management regime and the members must strive to live up to that expectation.
“You have an enormous task not only in ensuring that the Authority successfully achieved its mandate but also working to improve its image and the procurement profession in our country,” Dr Kumah, MP, Ejisu charged.
The government, he said, expected the board to “be one which continuously strive for innovation and sustainability in the conduct of procurement through electronic systems to ensure greater transparency, accountability and value for money”.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
