Kumasi, May 03, GNA – No worker at the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) is going to lose his or her job following the implementation of the Ghana Electronic Procurement System (GHANEPS), Mr Kwame Prempeh, the Deputy Chief Executive of the Authority, has assured.
He said the staff of the Authority were only going to perform their duties electronically to promote efficiency and transparency in public procurement and that the new system was not, in any way, a threat to their jobs.
GHANEPS is an online based tool for public procurement aimed at promoting efficiency, transparency and competition among suppliers to obtain value for money.
It was launched in 2019 by Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia as part of the E-Transform Project being undertaken by the Government through the Ministry of Communications with support from the World Bank.
Following the launch of the system, it had been piloted in five government entities including the Ghana Cocoa Board, Ghana Health Service, Tema Metropolitan Assembly, Department of Feeder Roads, and Koforidua Technical University, under phase one of the project.
The second phase involves the training of key players in the procurement sector as part of preparations for a nationwide roll-out of the GHANEPS.
At the closing ceremony of a training session for government entities in the Ashanti Region on the implementation of the system, Mr Prempeh said staff of the Authority would rather be more productive in the performance of their duties.
He said the system would not only eliminate operational malpractices but also promote fiscal discipline among entities because it was being linked to the Government Integrated Financial Management System (GIFMIS).
“Once that is complete, it means that you have to get clearance from GIFMIS before you can initiate the procurement because if there is no money you will not be able to initiate the document at all,” he noted.
Several instances exist where contracts were signed but stalled along the way because government could not pay due to lack of funds, Mr Prempeh said, and that GHANEPS would be able to check such practices.
The expectation is that all government entities shall be trained and enrolled onto the system by the end of 2023 to facilitate the process, he said.