Thirty procurement officers in the Government Service recently participated in a capacity-building workshop geared at improving competencies, efficiency, and productivity in the procurement of goods, services, and resources on behalf of the Government of Saint Lucia.
Director of Procurement in the Department of Finance, Anthony Jean, said the training allowed participants to understand and utilize the provisions within the new procurement legislation, to practice better procurement skills to benefit of their agencies.
“It’s not enough that officers know what’s in the law. It’s not purchasing or performing a procurement in compliance with the law, you want to be able to do it in a manner that really gets you what you want for your agency.”
Senior Consultant with Charles Kendall Partnership, Rob Thompson was one of the facilitators of the workshop.
“I’ve been in procurement for 30 plus years, working with both the private sector and the public sector, but specializing in terms of public procurement and helping developing nations as well as European countries to interpret the regulations in a practical way, which will deliver good value for money procurement. But, still ensure compliance rather than having people focus purely and simply on compliance without thinking about it is good value in the end when they make their procurements.”
He stressed the important role procurement officer perform as procurement touches more of the government’s expenditure than any other function.
“If we get the procurement right, buying hospitals, buying roads, even buying office equipment or furniture, whatever you think the government needs, it has to be bought. And, that is why procurement is fundamentally one of the most important functions within government to deliver a good return for the investment that people make in the taxes that they pay,” Thompson said.
The International Tax Consultant implored participants to strive for value for money in the procurement process.
“The usual approach for people to take, because it’s the safe approach, is to buy the cheapest, the lowest price. What I am saying to them is its equally good value to buy one which has a better life cost than it is simply the initial purchase price. So, look at things over their life and sometimes it’s worth paying more to start off with because over its life it actually has a lower cost,” he added.
The takeaway for participants, he said, is that performing good procurement leads to good compliance with the standards and legislation. The week-long workshop at the Finance Administrative Building in Pointe Seraphine also involved participants from the audit department who reviewed public procurement.
Procurement has the largest share in government expenditure along with great exposure the risk of fraud, corruption, or other breaches of integrity.
HANG THEM HIGH
Just when you think that something is being done to curb all the senseless gun violence in the Island of Saint Lucia, comes another killing at Dennery and as you ask, a drive-by shooting, no targeted person intended only to cause disruption, death, and grievance. I employ Saint Lucia, all lawful citizens of Saint Lucia hear this! Unless you bring back the death penalty, hang them high! to such wilfully disobedient individuals committing those murders, save time if they are judged guilty, they should hang quickly not letting a day go by.
This is not cruelty, but retribution extension to a corrupt individual, hanging them in the public square for all to witness, possible if you are thinking of committing a crime, your mind may reflect on the punishment to come, therefore avoiding another murder.
All your ramblings about how to enter into battle, with those who intend to cause mayhem, murder, and destruction are not working, time to turn to capital punishment, only cowards carry guns, and it does not matter what the circumstances are, if the gun is not registered by the individual, it cannot be traced back to the owner after it has been used, you seldom hear that there was a gun battle resulting into casualty, do you know why its, because the shooter is being shot at as well, so the cowards pick the law-abiding citizen to shoot if you hang them their days of shooting, will certainly come to an end.
Fooksal back in the days was hang, that buried a thought deep in the minds of all Saint Lucians, and for a while, there was peace granted not harmony, but it was a start, how many more such civil disorders are you going to have? a spell in jail is like a slap on the hands to a hardened criminal, some may even boast out loud saying those are only keystone cops, bail is our ticket to freedom, for the system only strive on money, and their boss has plenty.
The past heroes of Saint Lucia HAD NO FEAR imputing their brand of justice, an eye for an eye, they did not care about a dam with outside influence, that was wishing to silence their actions, they knew as the saying goes, who feels knows it!
You claim that you have independence, that you govern your nation’s people, and that you make your laws, yes you claim it to be so outwardly, but inwardly your laws are derived from the mother country, therefor your hands are tied in many cases, this being the case the most important thing to do, is to challenge and change that which does not benefit, the citizens of Saint Lucia. If you think you are free to govern the citizen of Saint Lucia THEN bring back capital punishment, I say again hang them high.