Committee expresses worry about gov’t local contracts award
The Parliamentary Select Committee on Local Government and Rural Development has expressed worry about the continuous award of contracts by the government for the implementation of capital projects at the local level.
The Committee said the practice did not empower the technocrats at the local level to monitor the progress of work, leading to poor execution of projects.
Besides, such projects did not mostly address the critical needs of the beneficiaries and defeat the practice of decentralisation.
The committee called for a paradigm shift to all stakeholder involving approach where contracts were awarded with technical inputs of critical partners, including the technocrats at various Metropolitan, Municipal and Districts Assemblies and the beneficiary people.
Before it rose from the first meeting of its first session, the eighth Parliament passed the 2021 budget statement and economic policy presented by the Majority Leader, Osei-Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, on behalf of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
A five-member Parliamentary Select Committee on Local Government and Rural Development has inspected the construction of Courts Complex and Residential accommodation for the Judiciary at Kadjebi being funded from the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF).
Mr Emmanuel Kwesi Gyamfi, Chairman of the Committee, speaking at the projects sites, said as part of their mandate and oversight responsibility, they were in the District to verify and inspect the progress of projects being funded by the DACF.
“This the Committee believes would equip it with first-hand information to prepare a comprehensive report for the consideration of the House before the consideration of the 2021 formulae for the distribution of the DACF”, he said.
MP SPEAKS | Govt must be transparent on combat ship saga
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MP SPEAKS | The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) saga was one of several issues that was brought to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Defence and Home Affairs when I chaired it from December 2019 until December 2020.
We must remember that LCS is one the largest defence procurement for new equipment undertaken in Malaysia’s history.
The Special Investigation Committee on Public Governance, Procurement, and Finance (JKSTUPKK) had stated that the LCS was one of the vendor-driven procurements undertaken by the Defence Ministry, where the requests and needs of the contractor prevailed over that of the end-user, the Royal Malaysian Navy (TLDM).