By HELEN ZULU – 

THE Zambia Public Procurement Authority (ZPPA) has called on African governments to avoid political interference in procurement processes.

ZPPA director-general Maxwell Musongole said there was need for African governments to avoid political interference in procurement processes to smoothen the process.

Dr Musongole said at the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Africa (CIPS) Pan-African conferences in Lusaka on Tuesday that adhering to procurement plans by most officers was a challenge as they resorted to direct bidding requests.

He said in many countries, public procurement accounted for a large percentage of Gross Domestic Products (GDP), hence improved public procurement practices were cardinal.

“African governments need to avoid political interference to smoothen the procurement process; this vice in most cases causes many people to engage in direct bidding requests.

“Contract management is another challenge that results from political interference in procurement processes,” Dr Musongole said.

He called on African governments to consider making public procurement a strategic objective so that they could be able to see how they were performing.

Dr Musongole said doing so would enable them ensure that there were best procurement practices among the authorities, thereby reducing corruption cases and direct bidding request in the procurement system.

“African governments should consider making public procurement a strategic objective so that they can be able to see how they have been performing…,” he said.

Dr Musongole said there was also need for constant reviews of the laws to remove ambiguities if any and align the laws with market expectations.

He said governments should embrace collaboration as a strategic tool among stakeholders and ensure that policies that support small-scale enterprises were embedded in the public procurement.

Dr Musongole called on universities to consider introducing procurement courses to improve skills among professionals.

He said if universities started offering procurement courses, this would improve public procurement practices in the country.

Dr Musongole further called on public procurement authorities to be alive to dynamics of public procurement and to ensure the use of friendly procurement practices.