By Mark N. Mengonfia
Monrovia-Finance Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan has called on spending entities to spend 25 per cent of funding for furniture and local goods on Liberian Businesses.
Speaking recently when Liberia launched Electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) at the EJS Ministerial Complex, the Minister said, “We want entities to spend not less than 25% of the money they spend on furniture.”
He said by doing so will help keep those local businesses into helping with the country’s economy.
The Finance boss indicated that there are businesses in the rural parts of the country that might not get any goods or services from the government because of the rigorous procurement processes.
He told the Executive Director of the Public Procurement and Concession Corporation (PPCC) that there is a need to relax some of the processes for those local businesses, giving an example of a local furniture producer firm in places like Zwedue, Grand Gedeh County.
According to him, procurement processes in those areas often disenfranchise local businesses thus calling on the PPCC authorities to see the need to set some thresholds for the local businesses and at the same time maintaining control of the processes so as to give them a space to perform in their own economy.
The Minister acknowledged that if Liberia as a country wants a vibrant private sector, a vibrant public procurement system is what is needed but he was also quick to let the public know that allowing local businesses forming part of a threshold, monitored process was also key.
The call from the Liberia Minister of Finance is in line with the Liberianization Policy, a policy which was initiated by President William Richard Tolbert Jr. in 1976.
The policy was designed to be the means of achieving an economy that is controlled by Liberians and build strong indigenous-based business institutions that would take over and possess the economy of the
