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Use professionals to curb corruption — CIPS
By
Francis Tayanjah-Phiri - 11-03-2003 |
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The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) has said corruption and fraud, currently high in both government and private sector, can only be curbed if professionals were engaged to man high offices of procurement.
“It is sad that people who have no requisite qualification in procurement are left to continue doing procurement in the dark at the expense of the tax payer and ordinary Malawians,” said CIPS (Malawi Chapter) Mzuzu section head Patrick Sibale during the association’s meeting in Mzuzu on Saturday.
Sibale said a lot of public revenue was being misused because those lay people engaged to do procurement do not have the professional knowledge and were not accountable to the ethics of the purchasing and supply profession.
That, he said, gives room for corruption and fraud to creep in since it was only CIPS registered professionals that would adhere to ethics and norms of the profession.
Said Sibale: “In order to combat corruption in the country, we need to advocate sound purchasing principles which hinge on competition, economy, efficiency, transparency and accountability. This is only possible if government and its agencies engage qualified purchasing professionals in public procurement.”
He said it was unfortunate that government appeared to shun the CIPS in handling tenders and procurement. Sibale said as a reputable professional body, the CIPS could be better advisors to government on how it could save resources in the process of acquisition of goods and services.
CIPS (Mzuzu Section) patron Dr. David Mphande, on his part, said there was need to intensify professional training for procurement and stores staff nationwide, to ensure that the limited resources the country has are saved.
Mphande, who is also the Dean of Education at the Mzuzu University, said the university was currently offering part time studies in Purchasing and Supply to beef up qualified personnel in the said profession.
He said: “Mzuzu University is keen to encourage and train many young people to fully participate in the economy and development of the country. As CIPS courses are crucial to the country’s economy, there is also need to promote its curriculum so as to broaden ways of saving our economy.”
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