Deputy Commissioner, Shollay Davies on unveiling the award said, “the Commission has an excellent management structure with clearly defined roles and responsibilities among Departments, especially Finance, Auditing and Procurement”.  He said this creates room for proper oversight functions with non-duplication of functions.

Speaking at the conference, ACC Procurement Manager James Kargbo gave a background on public procurement processes in Sierra Leone with respect to the legal framework. He said Sierra Leone has a robust procurement environment anchored on the Public Procurement Act, Pubic Procurement Manual, and the Standard Bidding Document. In terms of compliance to the laws and guidelines, the Anti-Corruption Commission, National Public Procurement Authority, and the Audit Service Sierra Leone are lead institutions ensuring adherence, and maintaining sanity in process and practice.

To further ensure value for money, the ACC has instituted the integrity pact, which is an agreement between MDAs awarding contract and contractors, pledging to desist from any act amounting to bribery and corruption.

Integrity pacts and pledges however put Sierra Leone ahead of several countries in the sub-region for instituting measures in line with transparency and accountability. Noting that procurement is a fertile area for the occurrence of corruption, integrity pacts stand as one sure mechanism for tackling mis-procurement.

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