Jemma Nunu Kumba, the Speaker of the National Parliament during innaguartion of parliament by President Salva Kiir on Wednesday, April 3, 2024 - Credit: Office of the President

The Speaker of Parliament Jemma Nunu Kumba said the country has lost revenue in several projects due to improper procurement processes, poor management and monitoring.

Nunu stated that government agencies must follow the system by adhering to the procurement process stipulated in the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Act.

She said governance is all about service delivery and proper management of public resources.

“If you have to procure, you have to go through procurement processes, which should be done properly and correctly so that you can get value for money,” she said at a workshop for members of the National Assembly facilitated by the World Bank in Juba on Thursday.

“You will agree with me that we have lost money and most of our projects because the procurement is not done properly and not managed and monitor properly.”

“If we need to have value for money, we should put in place a proper procurement system.”

Speaker Nunu did not give specific examples of incidents where public fund was squandered due to improper procurement procedures.

On Tuesday, the parliament adopted and passed the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Regulations to operationalize the act which was assented into law by President Kiir in 2019.

The Act strives to ensure Fiscal discipline in government spending, and improved delivery of public goods and services, such as public utilities, educational systems and medical services and facilities to the citizens of South Sudan.

Another objective is to improve incomes to suppliers or contractors and create employment opportunities as well as government revenues through taxes from suppliers and service providers.

The regulations include providing standard bidding documents, requests for proposals, and other forms to be used on a mandatory basis for procuring entities.