Government is keen on establishing harmonised Public Procurement processes in the public service to eliminate corruption. Ms Yvonne Vanderpuye, a Principal Operations Officer of the Public Procurement Authority, (PPA) on Thursday said such a process would not only attract tenders, but also secure the judicious, economic and efficient use of state resources, while promoting fairness, transparency and non-discrimination within the procurement process. She made this known in a presentation at a training programme organised by the PPA in collaboration with the UNDP and the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), on the Public Procurement Act 633, 2003 for the media and civil society organisations. Ms Vanderpuye, said the training would offer the stakeholders a better understanding to ensure effective implementation of the Act. She said recent studies had revealed very minimal media reportage on procurement issues, while the few that had been reported lacked accuracy. The training was therefore expected to facilitate the appreciation of the provisions of the Act so that journalists could monitor, report and create public awareness about it. Ms Vanderpuye explained that the Public Procurement Act 633 had various in-built anti-corruption measures, adding that in Ghana public procurement accounted for 80 per cent of the national budget and therefore it was important that all operations were critically monitored to prevent corruption. She said if poorly managed, procurement which was a developmental tool could adversely affect the delivery of government projects. Ms Vanderpuye said weaknesses including the absence of a comprehensive procurement policy and an authority to dispose off public assets were identified by the Public Financial Management Reform Programme in 1996, the Public Procurement Oversight Group. She said the Group was established to steer the development of a comprehensive public procurement reform programme, which eventually became a law in 2003, with the objective of establishing the Public Procurement Authority, Entity Tender Committees among other things. Mr Agyenim Boateng Agyei, Chief Executive Officer, PPA, said the Authority which was an independent regulatory body formulate policies, monitor activities, enforce regulations and standards, ensure capacity building and professional development as well as manage and disseminate information to all stakeholders. Mrs. Florence Dennis, Executive Secretary, GACC, called for media collaboration in areas of monitoring to help eliminate corruption in national procurement. Source: GNA