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Tanzania urged to adhere to strict purchasing rules
2008-04-11 10:23:05
By Imani Lwinga
Tanzania may keep on dipping into bad contracts in purchasing, which have so far caused immense losses to the nation, should there be no effective measures taken to abide by procurement rules, international experts have warned.
The experts, Howard Selden and Susan Keighley from the UK-based Certified Institute of Purchasing and Supplies (CIPS) described procurement rules as essential tool to utilise quite efficiently and effectively the meager resources available in African countries.
``Tanzania and Kenya have recently adopted new procurement Acts. As one of the largest global institute, we are obliged to train more professionals to meet the required international standards,`` said Selden at a two-day workshop that is geared at equipping procurement officials.
``We are not here to make assessments of a particular country on procurement rules, but rather to promote and support the African nations` initiatives on basic procurement procedures,`` added Keighley, the CIPS Africa manager.
The workshop comprised procurement officials from Tanzania, Kenya, Malawi, Uganda and Zambia.
Keighley explained that for governments that have shown the will to enact procurement acts have done big drives towards controlling their resources.
However, the challenge was to have in place qualified officials to man purchases.
Dr Didas Masaburi, the East African legislator noted that poor contracts were a huge snag slowing down the country`s development.
Tanzania has suffered a lot due to poor or rather exploitative contracts that have plunged the country into unnecessary costs.
``It`s a delicate profession, which needs to be handled with much care. Violation of procurement rules have caused this country huge losses that would have been avoided,`` said Masaburi, who is also the board chairman of the Dar es Salaam-based Institute of Procurement Studies (IPS.
The agreements on power generation by Richmond Development Company of US and IPTL (Independent Power Tanzania Limited), and that on container handling by TICTS are some of the contracts which the government has been blamed for not being observant enough.
CIPS is determined to improve procurement studies offered in the country to meet international standards. This would increase ability of its officials as well as competence.
CIPS has presence in 138 countries with 42,000 members worldwide, 10,000 of whom are in Africa.
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