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Why members of public fear taking govt to task
2006-12-25 10:47:53
By George Sembony, PST reports
Lack of understanding of the Public Procurement Act No, 21 of 2004 is a major reason for proliferation of disputes in public procurement, the Secretary of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA), Bertha Malambugi, has said.
According to the official, the general public in the country has fear of taking the government to task or questioning it on matters relating to its funds due to inadequate knowledge about the law.
Speaking at a two-day discussion organized by the PPRA for Tanga-based business community and public procurement officials in Tanga last Friday, Malambuki said that an observation of public procurement disputes has shown that many public procurement stakeholders, including government officers, still do not understand the new procurement legislation.
She added that the problem that has contributed to emergence of procurement disputes and creating fear among businessmen.
’’The culture of taking legal action against the government or questioning the government on matters relating to its own funds is still new and stakeholders hesitate to report to respective appeal authorities to present their complaints,’’ Malambugi pointed out.
Her argument was so obvious that when she asked participants of the discussions to raise their hands if they have ever come across the New PPA nobody did so and this is in spite of the fact that they were engaging in procurement activities with the government.
Malambugi also pointed out that the business community has very little understanding of the work of the two public procurement authorities- the PPRA and the Public Procurement Appeals Authority (PPAA).
’’This has contributed to a state where bidders fail to present their complaints to the respective authorities or presenting them without following the required procedures. This leads to delay in resolving disputes,’’ Malambugi said.
She also mentioned fear of reprisals from government officers as a major problem that hindered bidders from presenting complaints to respective authorities apart from the fact that the bidders generally have very little trust on government organs controlling other similar government organs.
’’There is fear that government officers would always protect each other,’’ she added.
The PPRA Secretary also mentioned the language barriers whereby the language used to prepare the PPA and its regulations and appeals procedures are in the English language that may be used by few businessmen.
The PPRA has prepared several strategies that are aimed at facing the challenges and problems that face the implementation of the PPRA.
Malambugi mentioned the strategies as including, providing awareness education to stakeholders by using the media, newsletters, the internet and preparation of workshops and training courses.
She mentioned other strategies as production of brochures prepared in simple Kiswahili educate bidders on procedures for presenting their complaints to PPRA and PPAA.
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