PRAZ boss Ruswa elected to lead African procurement body
THE Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ) chief executive officer Mr Clever Ruswa has been elected as the president of the African Public Procurement Network (APPN).
APPN is an association which brings together the structures in charge of public procurement in 46 African countries.
The continental network, which is headquartered in Lome, Togo was formed in 2018 with the main objective to promote development and regional integration through active cooperation between member States with a view to improving public procurement.
Following his recent election and on behalf of the Government, Mr Ruswa pledged to make sure that the objectives of the APPN are taken on board.
“I am happy to assume the presidency of the African Public Procurement Network and the chairmanship.
“We are going to make sure that the objectives of the Africa Public Procurement Network are taken on board, basically where we are speaking mainly on the issues to do with the benchmarking of the best practices across the board, standardisation of processes.
“And also in the same vein, Zimbabwe as a nation now that we have established the Public Procurement Training Academy, we will make sure that we also take on board some of our colleagues’ concerns — the gaps which they have seen in the market and we also try to extend such activities to the respective jurisdictions,” he said.
In this context, Mr Ruswa said they have a lot of work ahead and as a nation, all hands will be on the deck towards Agenda 2063.
Agenda 2063 is Africa’s development blueprint to achieve inclusive and sustainable socio-economic development over a 50-year period.
“And also the objectives of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) where we are going to harmonise some of our laws making sure that the Environmental, Social and Governance issues are taken on board and also affirmative action where we are supporting our SMEs (Small to Medium Enterprises,” he said.
Officially launched in 2021, the AfCFTA has created the largest free trade area in the world by the number of countries participating and connects 1,3 billion people across 55 African countries.
Zimbabwe is among the countries that are signatory to the AfCFTA agreement.
Mr Ruswa said APPN aims to promote among other things, horizontal technical cooperation, exchanges of training and experiences between member States as well as creating partnerships between the different public procurement players.
The network also seeks to help members mobilise its members to foster the sharing of information and exchange of experiences with a view to strengthening the harmonisation of processes and the convergence of policies.-ebsinessweekl
