Biteko: Strengthen procurement to stop public fund losses

ARUSHA: DEPUTY Prime Minister and Minister for Energy, Dr Doto Biteko, has emphasised the importance of building strong public supply and procurement institutions in East African Community (EAC) countries to help control the loss of public funds.

Dr Biteko noted that 70 per cent of EAC governments’ budgets are allocated to procurement, making the sector crucial for oversight.

He made the remarks yesterday in Arusha while opening the 16th East African Public Procurement Forum on behalf of President Samia Suluhu Hassan.

The forum, themed “Digitalisation for Sustainable Public Procurement,” will run until Thursday this week.

He said most of the funds allocated by the EAC governments annually are used for procurement, so the governments must ensure that these funds receive close attention.

For this reason, he noted that past and current forum themes have consistently focused on four key principles: ethics, integrity, transparency and responsibility.

“These principles highlight that if they are not prioritised, people will not receive quality services. A significant portion of procurement funds in our countries is managed by you. You are the ones who decide the price and from whom to buy,” Dr Biteko told the participants.

“If we do not have strong supply and procurement institutions, the projects we undertake and the large amounts of money allocated will not yield the results we expect. Money will be wasted and poverty will increase,” he added.

Recognising the importance of this, he urged public procurement and supply control authorities, including the Tanzania Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA), to safeguard the reputation of their profession.

Dr Biteko encouraged them to serve the profession with dedication and to resist anyone attempting to bypass rules, regulations and procedures in public procurement.

“If someone tries to force you to use the ‘Fourth Account’ system in supply and procurement, consider them a threat to your profession, uphold ethics to ensure that public procurement aligns with the value of money,” emphasised Dr Biteko.

In another move, Dr Biteko launched an electronic public procurement system known as NeST, designed to enhance procurement procedures and increase efficiency.

He explained that in 2019, the government introduced the TANePS electronic procurement system, managed by the PPRA, but due to challenges with the system, the government, through the Ministry of Finance, decided to develop the new NeST system.

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According to Dr Biteko, NeST offers several advantages, including reducing procurement costs for both bidders and the government, eliminating the use of paper, speeding up the procurement process, reducing errors and improving service delivery to citizens.

“I am pleased that the NeST system was developed by Tanzanian youths. I have also been informed that some EAC countries have expressed interest in the NeST system. I am happy to see that through this platform, we can exchange experiences on various matters, including systems,” said Dr Biteko.