4 February, 2008

Abdul Hassan Fackie

A Reflection of the Past Government's Contractual Arrangements

A reflection of the past government's contractual arrangements can uncover systematic political incompetence and victimisation on the part of the SLPP led Government. The result has been a blackmail of small, medium and large-scale entrepreneurs; something the APC government should draw a lesson from.

It is true that the past government entered into several contracts that were unprofessionally designed and executed. This is fact: there had been the issue of deception on the part of the past Government, as in most cases, contracts were awarded even though funds were not available to honour the terms of such contracts.

Another pointer to the unprofessional contractual pattern of the past Government was the failure to make room for defaults (late disbursement of funds) and price increases of material - during the said period of default.

The effect of the above was not only felt by affected companies, but it also deprived the people of Sierra Leone as true beneficiaries of most of these development projects that suffered in the face of a bad contractual scheme.

Even most local banking institutions that were determined to support indigenous businesses to transform into viable enterprises, suffered as a result of the SLPP government's deception and untimely disbursement of funds.

The negative outcome of such an unfortunate situation compelled the banks to stop giving out facilities to local companies, thus depriving them from actively participating in the economic development of the nation.

Worse still, had been the highly politicised pattern of supervising contracts by the National Procurement Authority. Perceived political opponents who had contracts were strangled and rendered ineffective. The National Procurement Authority failed to come to the rescue of these victimised companies or contractors, but rather joined the then government to blackmail them.

This gave the SLPP government the leverage to psychologically demoralise their perceived opponents.

It is in evidence that some of these deprived companies had better employment bases with better potential to pay revenue to government.

On the contrary, SLPP contractors were given clean slates even when most defaulted in the implementation of contracts. If the present revenue base of the country is not strong enough, with an equally low employment capacity, the foregoing reasons explain it all.

The APC government must not be a victim of the SLPP style of contractual relationship with local companies. The APC government must therefore review the structure and performance of the National Procurement Authority, including all incomplete contracts. This can be an effort to analyse the real problem, with a view to adopting best practices that will lead to the effective completion of such incomplete projects that suffered as a result of political victimisation and interference.

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