Monrovia – What appears to be a broad-day light case of breaking the law – and trying to get away with it; is unfolding in the upper house of the Liberian legislature.
In a confidential letter obtained by FrontPageAfrica, all 30 members of the Senate have acknowledged breaching the Public Procurement & Concessions Commission regulations regarding the purchase of some 30 vehicles and asking the President to intervene on their behalf to pay the vendors.
“In view of the above mentioned, the Members of the Liberian Senate would have me to further inform Your Excellency, that the Body would appreciate highly were you to timely intervene, so that the vendors will receive their payments and save the face of the Liberian Senate in this manner. Please accept, Madam President, the renewed assurances of my highest consideration and esteem, regards” – J. Nanborlor P. Singbeh, Sr., Secretary, Liberian Senate
FrontPageAfrica has learned that the Senators individually took it upon themselves to take the vehicles on credit from a local vehicle importer, GBK Motors on the condition that they would pay when the budget passes. However, when the Senators reneged on their pledge to pay and the vendors came knocking on their doors, the Senators reportedly appealed to the President to join them in breaking the law by breaching the PPCC regulations.
A copy of the letter submitted to the President in possession of FrontPageAfrica states:
Your Excellency:
I have the honour to present my compliments and by directive of the Liberian Senate (IN SESSION), apprise Your Excellency that, the Liberian Senate took thirty vehicles from vendors in favour of Members of the Senate in the total amount of one million three hundred ninety five thousand United States Dollars (US$1,395,000.00), to facilitate to and fro work movement of its Members, so as to obtain quorum for the commencement of its legislative duties and County Visitation. This transaction is to be paid during the FY-2015/2016 Budget that is now coming to an end.
Accordingly, the vendors are currently mounting pressure on the Senate to effect payment for said vehicles, and PPCC is interposing objection to the process, accusing the Senate of not adhering to the PPCC Procurement Law.
In view of the above mentioned, the Members of the Liberian Senate would have me to further inform Your Excellency, that the Body would appreciate highly were you to timely intervene, so that the vendors will receive their payments and save the face of the Liberian Senate in this manner.
Please accept, Madam President, the renewed assurances of my highest consideration and esteem.
Kind regards,
Nanborlor P. Singbeh, Sr.
Secretary, Liberian Senate
The PPCC regulations regarding Threshold for Procurement and international open competitive bidding states that the Thresholds above which international open competitive bidding shall be used are the ceiling the Thresholds for national open competitive bidding.
The regulations states: “The ceiling Thresholds for national open competitive bidding shall be
the following estimated contract prices. Above these ceilings, international open competitive bidding shall be used. In the case of contracts for the procurement of goods, US$500,000; In the case of contracts for the procurement of services, US$200,000; In the case of contracts for the procurement of works, US$1,000,000.
The regulations put the thresholds for the requests for quotations shall be the following estimated contract prices as follows: In the case of contracts for the procurement of goods, US$10,000; In the case of contract for the procurement of services, US$10,000; In the case of contracts for the procurement of works, US$30,000.
FrontPageAfrica has learned that the Senators ignored the Open competitive bidding which requires government entities to nationally advertise or internationally advertise prior to purchasing.
“This is not the first time. They always buy things and call PPCC to back date documents”, one source told FPA.
Violating this provision of the PPCC Law is punishable by fine and imprisonment.
“Any person who contravenes any provision of this Act like receiving or giving kickbacks or bribes, being involved with connivance, collusion, cohesion, conflict of interest, not timely or properly executing contracts, etc. commits an offence.
Any such person convicted by a Court of a violation of this Act shall, upon summary conviction, be liable to imprisonment for a period not exceeding five (5) years and or a fine not exceeding US$100,000. Violation of provisions of this Act may also constitute grounds for debarment.
The Commission may recommend for prosecution any person who in the view of the Commission has contravened in any material respect the provisions of this Act.”
Despite the letter to the President, authorities at the Senate insists that they did nothing wrong and are claiming that they followed the PPCC process.
Senator George Tengbeh (UP-Lofa County), Chairman on Rules, Order and Administration in the Senate when contacted Tuesday said: “The PPCC gave us the go-ahead to get our vehicles and the government is paying for them. I am not aware of that information. If you have that information, please provide them to me.”
In the Lower House, Representative Byron Brown (LP-Grand Bassa County), Chair on Rules, Order & Administration went a step further to state: “The first thing you will do in a bidding process is to put it in the newspaper.”
Rep. Brown argued that there’s no way auditors will find anyone guilty because there is no way any lawmaker can get car without going through the PPCC process.
“What hurts me more is that they said, we wrote the President that will be a mistake to write a President who wants to make news. What is difficult that the legislature can do to fill in a form?
There is no vendor that can give anyone a car without LPO meaning if you did that it is not the responsibility of government to pay.
So, if I went and took cars all the vendors are on the list of PPCC. So they know the process. You cannot make the request by mouth you make the request by the requirement so there is no way PPCC car reply you and say we cannot pay because they give authorization for us to the cars.
There is no car here that has not been paid for. We still have over 30 cars to receive and the only reasons we have not received those cars is because they have not been paid for. They have been committed to the commission.
Rep. Brown’s explanation suggests that the lower house may have followed different procedure than that of the Upper House whose letter to the President suggests vendors were chasing Senators for their money as they pleaded with the President to intervene and “save their face” from embarrassment.
FrontPageAfrica has also not been able to verify or find a single newspaper that advertised a bid announcement for the purchase of the 30 vehicles the Senators purchased from GBK Motors.
It is a requirement under the PPCC Act that when publication is required from an entity, it means placement of the relevant information in a newspaper of wide circulation in Liberia and posting the information on the web-site of the relevant entity or, if the entity lacks a web-site, on the website of the Commission.
The Act also provides that in an Open Competitive Bidding process bidding may be nationally advertised or internationally advertised, and may include a prequalification procedure or the application of a post-qualification procedure.
According to the PPCC regulations, Section 40, 2/3, it is against policy for a procuring entity to proceed with its procurement activities without an approved procurement plan.
“Upon budget approval, the Procurement Unit shall prepare an annual procurement plan for goods, works, and services in accordance with the Procuring Entity’s approved programs and budget and furnish it to the Procurement Committee for review and approval.
The Procurement Committee shall furnish the procurement plan to the Commission for review and approval.”
The latest issue regarding misuse and abuse of funds comes as several of Liberia’s international partners have been hitting home the theme that the government should clamp down on corruption.
“We should fight corruption in this country, and don’t allow politicians to use their political connections to fill their bank accounts and their pockets here,” former Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, currently the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs.
EU Ambassador, Tiina Intelmann has also emphasized that the EU is also following up on the issue of corruption in Liberia and called on government to prosecute all cases on record.
Rodney D. Sieh, [email protected]