E-procurement the way to go

Blessings Chidakwa in Victoria Falls

Electronic procurement is the best way to go as it reduces costs, increases productivity and transaction speed as well as eliminates the hurdles of paperwork.

This was revealed during a dinner hosted by the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe last night, paving way for its annual conference which kickstarts today ending tomorrow.

Vice President Constatino Chiwenga will tomorrow be expected to give a keynote address and officially launch the PRAZ e-learning portal at the conference running under the theme “Balancing emergencies with efficiency and integrity”.

Guest speaker at the dinner last night, Uganda Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority Executive Director Benson Turamye shared experiences of his country in improving public procurement processes.

“Procurement has been widely regarded as a paperwork-based field, but I urge you to fully embrace technology. E-procurement is the way to go,” he said.

Mr Turamye also said the education qualifications for procurement personnel should be upgraded as in his country a general course was the highest offered, but now qualifications extended to universities.

Giving welcome remarks, PRAZ board chairperson Vimbai Nyemba said this was the first and historic dinner since 2018 being hosted for officials and experts to interact and exchange notes on public procurement experiences.

Reputable International guests from countries including Kenya, Uganda and Zambia as well as senior Government officials, parastatals and the private sector are expected to share their experiences.