Partridge calls for e-procurement to check corruption vice in Malawi

Press Corporation Limited (PCL) plc Group Chief Executive Officer George Partridge has called on companies and organizations in the country to adopt e-procurement as one way of fighting corruption and improving service delivery.

Partridge made the call in Mangochi on Friday when he officially opened this year’s annual procurement and supply management conference organized by the Malawi Institute of Procurement and supply (MIPS).

“Corruption is robbing this country of the much needed social and economic progress. Given our prevailing circumstances, e-procurement will help to minimise the human contact that gives rise to bribery and corruption in the procurement sector. This means that procurement procedures will regain the respect that they require,” said Partridge.

He said procurement accounts for a very high percentage of a country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and said even a small improvement in procurement performance can result in significant savings through the multiplier effect for both the government and the private sector, by improving transparency, efficiencies and effectiveness of public as well as private sector operations.

“E-procurement ensures the automatic processing, auctioning and searching of orders and of related trading documents and data, thereby enhancing the speed and certainty of doing business at a lower total cost than manual procurement. At the same time, there is improved workflow of the internal procurement process, enabling end-users self-service and decentralization.”

“E-procurement gives you the visibility you want through-out the whole process, from getting quotes, procurement, stores, creditors management, paying, reconciliations and others.”

“This visibility is used as an audit trail, thereby safeguarding the institution from irregular transactions or at least guaranteeing that those indulging in malpractices would be deterred or sooner than later be exposed,” said Partridge.

Speaking earlier, MIPS President Joseph Ngalawa also said the procurement professionals are looking at how best they can use e-procurement as a way of improving efficiency as well as reducing corruption.

“I would like to appeal to my fellow procurement specialists to jealously guard our profession from being spoiled by a few misguided individuals who might not be sharing the vision that many of us have,” said Ngalawa.

He said MIPS has made some efforts to reduce cases of non-procurement professionals handling issues of procurement adding that with the guidance of the MIPS Act, they will improve standards of service deliver and training of procurement persons to bring sanity in the profession.