Mbabane- Vusumutiwendvodza Matsebula, the Chief Executive Officer of Eswatini Public Procurement Regulatory Agency (ESPPRA) is confident that the public procurement technical assistance project will change the face of the country’s procurement systems.
This was during the launch of the public procurement technical assistance project which is financially and technically supported by the African Development Bank Group (ADBG). The Ministry of Finance will be also be working with the two entities on the project.
Matsebula highlighted that the project will help in capacity building of procurement professionals in the country and also change the face of the procurement system.
According to Chongo Chitupila from the ADBG, the project will provide targeted technical assistance and knowledge management to ESPPRA, which will help them to deliver on their mandate of maintaining effective and transparent public procurement.
During the duration of the project, the entities will also undertake analytical work to inform legal and institutional reforms.
The public procurement technical assistance project will provide a foothold for training and skills building in the procurement industry. According to Chonga the objective of the training is to familiarize ESPPRA officials and civil servants with the rules and procedures of the banks and the national ones at large.
According to Chongo,”at the completion of this project the three entities would have developed a roadmap for building improved, efficient, effective and robust procurement systems. This will also strengthen the procurement profession as a whole.”
The Ministry of Finance also expressed their gratitude ADBG for supporting the project and highlighted that it will create a vibrant procurement profession.
Representing the Ministry’s Principal Secretary was Nkululeko Dlamini, who is a Director of Supply Chain. Dlamini said the project will help in the creation of jobs and private sector participation.
Dlamini also highlighted that the Ministry was now at an advanced stage of allowing entity tender boards to function on their own. As it stands the government tender structure only allows the tender board to give grant public sector tenders.
Eswatini is not the only country that has received help from ADBG to develop their procurement profession. Recently the Government of the Republic of Angola also received support from the African Development Bank/African Development Fund through the Middle-Income Country Technical Assistance Fund (MICTAF) to finance the Public Procurement Technical Assistance Project.
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