GPPA director general and the GPPA director of Procurement Policy and Operations, Phoday Jaiteh and Ebrima Sanyang respectively, have told the Local Government Commission of Inquiry that the Kerewan Area Council awarded contracts to unregistered suppliers.

The top public procurement officials made the disclosure on Wednesday while giving evidence before the Commission on the 2020 and 2021 compliance review reports of the Kerewan Area Council.

During their testimony, they established that in 2020, the Kerewan Area Council gave contracts worth over 36,000 dalasis to unregistered suppliers.

Again, they confirmed that in 2021, the Kerewan Area Council awarded contracts amounting to 38,800 dalasis to unregistered suppliers.

Witness Ebrima Sanyang told the commissioners that this was a clear violation of the national procurement laws and regulations, as it is stipulated that councils should not be trading with suppliers that do not register with GPPA.

He said non-registration translates to non-payment of taxes. Also, Mr Sanyang told the Commission that there could be biases in the awarding of contracts and that the eligible suppliers were not contracted.

The Commission also heard that the GPPA review team observed that Kerewan Area Council did not maintain proper files of the procurement transactions.

Moreover, the GPPA Act provides support to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). However, the Kerewan Area Council was not doing that claiming that their area does not have SMEs.

Witness Sanyang slammed that claim, telling the Commission that is baseless.