Dr. Tett Affotey-Walters, Strategic Advisory Board Member of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS), has advised government to engage qualified procurement officers in order to guard the country against events that result in judgement debts.

He explained organisations that utilise procurement processes efficiently are able to ensure monies which are dedicated for spending are managed properly and in the best of ways to ensure the organisation achieves the desired results.

“If we have qualified procurement executives in this country, we will not have issues of judgement debt being paid to individuals and institutions,” he said.

The comments come in the wake of a flood of judgement debts that have engulfed the state and threaten to put government’s fiscal consolidation efforts out of gear.

Speaking on the sidelines of the annual general meeting for the CIPS local branch, Mr. Affotey-Walters explained that the procurement professional understands what brings about judgement debts and will work proactively to ensure that his/her employers do not get into that risk.

He stated that one of the foremost things done by the qualified professionals is to have a source-selection plan.

“This source selection plan should detail the items that you are going to buy, the methods to be used, sourcing, where you think you are going to identify products from, timelines, potential risks that can occur. When you have these things together, you are now going to sit and find out how you will manage all these processes to make sure all that has been said will come to pass.

“When you are able to have all these things done, one of the things you can be sure of is that judgement debt is not going to happen. What brings about judgement debt is the awarding of a contract and you do not pay on time, or the contract is terminated illegally.

“If you have a professional procurement person who is working for government, he knows that there is a termination provision called ‘termination for convenience’; and if this is part of the contract it protects the government in terms of its procurement process, and some of these things will not move to where they are,” he explained.

He believes that if professional procurement executives are employed, judgement debts relating to procurement will be a thing of the past.

André Coetzee, Managing Director of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) Africa, said the role of the qualified procurement executive should not be underestimated.

“The public sector expenditure in the country is very high. You can imagine if that money is spent more efficiently and effectively and creates value for money. What would that value proposition be for the normal person on the streets?” he asked.

CIPS is the largest procurement and supply professional body in the world, and is represented in 150 countries across the globe with a total membership of over 110,000.

The organisation has its head office in the United Kingdom, with full service offices in Dubai (Middle East and North Africa); Melbourne, Australia (Australia and New Zealand); Singapore (Asian Pacific Region); China; Pretoria, South Africa (sub-Saharan Africa) and then joint ventures in Poland, Turkey and North America.

Currently, CIPS has about 17,000 members in sub-Saharan Africa and hopes to grow this to 50,000 members by 2017.

“Since we are a not-for-profit organisation, we are in a very good position to grow our membership across the continent because whatever we make is reinvested in growing the capacity of our members,” Mr. Coetzee said.

Stella Addo, the Ghana Chair of CIPS, added that one of the things the local branch is assiduously working on is the creation of awareness about the need for professionals to handle procurement instead of planners and accountants.

“It is time procurement moves from the backyard to become a whole solutions provider. Procurement must become a strategic partner in any institution to help them optimise growth,” she said. The AGM also created an avenue for networking wherein members and non-members were exposed to new ideas and methods to enhance their efficiencies.