GPPA claims Mansakonko Area Council bought bag of rice for D6000

 July 27, 2023, The Standard newspaaper

By Aminata Kuyateh

The director of procurement policy at the Gambia Public Procurement Authority, Ebrima Sanyang, Thursday revealed that in 2020, Mansakonko Area Council purchased 655 bags of rice amounting to D4,025,750 from a supplier Nemasu Enterprise, which means that each bag of rice costs a little over D6,000.

Worst still Mr Sanyang said Nemasu Enterprise was not registered with the GPPA and the law prohibits area councils from trading with suppliers that are not registered with the GPPA

He revealed that in 2019 there were 495 transactions of single sourcing by the council amounting to D2,280,996.64 as well as 10 transactions of request for quotation amounting D486,850.

Sanyang further revealed that in 2020 there were 446 single sourcing transactions of D25,959,001.62 and 22 transactions through request for quotation amounting to D4,961,155. In 2021, the GPPA man went on, “there were another 436 transactions of single sourcing amounting to D1,469,800.23 and four transactions of request for quotation amounting to D162,020.” He went on to list numerous other single sourcing and request for quotations carried out by the Mansakonko Area Council.

Commission queries GPPA

However, after the lengthy testimony of Mr Sanyang from the GPPA, the Commissioners raised the issue of inconsistencies in the reports of GPPA itself.

Deputy lead counsel Patrick Gomez told the witness that procurement report was done with intention to defraud and asked the witness the cost of a bag of rice.

The witness responded that the highest price for a bag of rice was D2,000 and admitted that there are several inconsistencies in their reports because they sometimes made wrong citations of the Act.

The chairperson of the commission, Jainaba Bah put it to the witness that the GPPA report was not consistent.

Director Sanyang informed the Commission that the GPPA has taken note of the errors and promised that they will adjust. “We will put our house in order,” the witness said.

Sanyang added that “the citations of the law maybe wrong, but the facts and the findings remain the same”.

He testified that the GPPA does not have a legal department.