Finance and Economic Planning minister Claver Gatete has defended the new draft law on public procurement.

Appearing before the parliamentary Standing Committee on Budget and Patrimony, Amb. Gatete said the Bill would facilitate both public and private procurement management system to fast-track possible solutions to procurement woes by putting in place capacity building framework for interested persons in the field.

Once enacted, the law is expected to close the loopholes that have been prevalent in the sector, especially in public procurement where, according to the Auditor-General, about 30 per cent of the tenders awarded by public entities do not comply with procurement guidelines.

"We are seeking to streamline all the institutional and legal frameworks governing procurement management so that we achieve desired objectives in the sector, which is professionalism,” the minister said.

He said through professional procurement, there will be efficiency and value for money in the sector which would later reflect on the economy.

"We want professional people who want to do procurement professionally, like we do have doctors, teachers and lawyers and so forth,” Amb. Gatete added.

In a recent interview with The New Times, Augustus Seminega, the director-general of Rwanda Public Procurement Authority (RPPA), acknowledged that the sector still has challenges, noting that most public procurement officers learn on the job, which affects performance.

He blamed procurement errors on low skill levels, lack of experience and laxity among procurement officers, which he reiterated in a subsequent interview with this paper yesterday.

"Through capacity building and professionalisation of the sector, we expect the number of public and private procurement officers to increase. The problems we are experiencing now are certainly going to reduce,” Seminega said yesterday.

Meanwhile, the Finance ministry has since partnered with the University of Rwanda’s College of Business and Economics to train and upgrade skills capacity of public procurement officers.

The loopholes

According to the Auditor General’s report that covered the period between August 2012 and June 2013 loopholes were noted in project design and study, bidding documents as well as enforcement of contracts, among others.

The report shows that more than Rwf23 billion was lost in poor contract management procedures, while nine contracts, worth Rwf908 million, were abandoned by contractors.

Up to 68 per cent of the public entities were discovered to have fundamental accounting, corporate governance, financial management, contract management and value for money flaws.

It is in this regard that, the government through RPPA, is looking to strengthen systems and the capacity of public procurement officers.

Article two of the draft law say that the profession of procurement shall be entrusted with persons who have knowledge, governed by ethical rules and international best practices and those who have chosen to practice it under supervision of a professional body in charge of establishing a code of professional practice.

During debate on the legislation, MPs suggested that the draft law be split into two, saying a Bill providing for the exercise of procurement professionalisation, and another for formation of the association of procurement professionals (RAPP) should be enacted separately.

Legislators said the two are independent entities that require separate laws.

"We welcome the idea of professionalising the procurement sector, but there are a few provisions we could not agree on with the ministry, so we need more details to help us clearly understand the difference between the two provisions,” said Constance Rwaka Mukayuhi, the chairperson of the committee.

"There are many issues in the procurement sector as captured in the Auditor-General’s report, that is why we don’t want to take any chances even in the laws we implement. We must eliminate all the gaps,” said Rwaka.

Seminega said together with the ministry, they would go back to the drawing board.

Gatete and his team are expected to reappear before the committee next week.

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