Board Chairman of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), Prof. Douglas Boateng, has underlined the need for further review of the authority’s regulations to make it compulsory for procurement practitioners to be licenced to operate.
That, he said, is the best way to ensure ethical standards within the procurement practice and to promote value for money transactions in the public sector.
Speaking at the opening of the Ghana Office of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) in Accra, he said: “The Public Procurement Act should be reviewed to ensure that procurement practitioners are licenced from a recognised local institution. This will help to professionalise procurement practice in the country”.
The view of the renowned procurement expert is in tune with that of others in the procurement field who opine that licencing practitioners could curtail the age-old issue of corruption in public sector procurement.
The argument is that if procurement practitioners are licenced, as is done in the legal and medical disciplines, they will be forced to go about their duty in line with set standards and ethics for fear of losing their licence.
Prof. Boateng predicted that by 2025 procurement and supply chain will be a key functional instrument for the aggressive industrialisation of this country.
“But to achieve that, there is a need for procurement practitioners to be moved from the backroom to the boardroom in the decision-making process of every organisation. We must also accelerate procurement-related human capital development,” he noted.
CIPS Ghana office
The CIPS Ghana Office will serve as the professional body for the procurement and supply chain profession in the country.
Working for the good of the profession and the public, professional body status ensures that CIPS will champion raising of standards in the profession through its professional qualifications, leading-edge thinking and research, and driving the professional procurement agenda across the world.
Director of Customer Relations at CIPS-UK, Duncan Brock, said at the launch: “CIPS is delighted to have been given this recognition as we start our official journey in Ghana. CIPS is the only professional body in the world to set the global standard and promote a code of conduct for procurement and supply practice, and we are delighted to be able to better support our Ghanaian community”.
CIPS Ghana Country Manager, Stella Addo, said her office will be a centre for research and insights that will help build an efficient procurement force to push government’s quest to fight corruption in the country.
She called for strong collaboration among other industry actors to ensure that the institute achieves its intended purpose, and to help drive forward the procurement profession.
Source: Patrick PAINTSIL/thebftonline.com/Ghana
