By Bill W. Cooper
The newly appointed Executive Director of the Public Procurement Concession Commission (PPCC), Bodger Scott Johnson, vowed to transform the PPCC into the epitome of integrity in Liberia.
With an ambitious vision and a comprehensive plan, Mr. Johnson also emphasized the need for a robust and transparent system that promotes fair competition, efficiency, and value for money.
The new PPCC Boss also aims to enhance transparency, accountability, and efficiency, as well as ensure a level playing field for all stakeholders while promoting ethical practices and combating corruption in public procurement processes.
The new PPCC Boss also highlighted the detrimental impact of corruption and irregular practices on the country’s progress, thus emphasizing that these issues hinder economic growth, discourage foreign investments, and erode public trust.
“We will certainly enforce the PPCC Act across the national government and we are more than willing to work with every governmental institution as it relates to their procurement plan and implementation,” he said.
ED Johnson continued, “The three key components that work together to make the procurement process happen are people, process and paperwork. People need training, the procurement process is long because of the lack of more compliance staff, and the paperwork is cumbersome, from procuring entities and at PPCC, my goal is to improve the procurement process.”
He disclosed that the Commission, under his leadership, intends to uphold its primary objectives, by seeking close partnership and collaboration with government procuring entities, State owned Enterprises, and their partners.
According to him, they will all work together to deliver, through a client-centric approach, which will involve assessing their current strategy and operations, and implementing any improvement needed to make them the number one integrity institution.
“I also welcome the transition to E-Procurement which is also being heavily supported by the administration of President George M. Weah, with support from the World Bank, but the question of how can we fast-track the turnaround time for procuring entities to get their goods or services, will be of paramount concern,” he added.
Mr. Johnson also called on the International Community for close collaboration, intended to re-define their partnership for national development, asserting that he wants a partnership that will hold the Commission accountable for their plans and actions.
Earlier, the PPCC outgoing Officer-In-Charge, Stevenson S. Yonder, said under his administration for the short term, he, along with his team, worked tirelessly with other government ministries and agencies intended to carry out the function of the procurement activities.
