At least 10,000 vehicles in government institutions have been mismanaged because of official leniency and lack of concern for public property, the Federal Public Procurement & Property Administration Agency announced.
Federal government offices and higher educational institutions have been criticized for stocking vehicles without any purpose. “Some are kept for over fifty years,” the Agency Director, Haji Ibsa said in a meeting.
At a consultative meeting with stakeholders to discuss the issue, the Agency indicated that asset management and procurement problems in Ethiopia have reached at an alarming level.
“Poor disposal execution, poor identification of property, delay in disposal of old asset, duplicity in counting, unplanned purchase, unwise consumption are among factors leading to the mismanagement and waste of public assets,” said Biniyam Berhe (PhD), an expert specializing in Procurement and Asset Management at Civil Service University.
Officials always tend to buy new property than using the existing assets wisely and properly, said Biniyam. He pointed out that the trend indicates the importance of building administrative and organizational mechanisms in order to tackle problems related to the waste of billions of birr worth of public assets.
Apart from vehicles, the agency’s observations around few government institutions over the past few weeks found computers, laptop and desktops, shelves, copy machines, tables and many more types of properties are idle, said Haji.
The agency said it will conduct a nationwide property registration campaign by the end of March in at least 35 higher government institutions nationwide.
According to State Minister of Finance, Eyob Tekalign (PhD), in order to avoid procurement related problems, a revised procurement bill has been devised and the document sent to the Council of Ministers.
The new procurement law, which is expected to be approved by the parliament before the end of the fiscal year, hopes to correct some of the issues around procurement.
The existing procurement proclamation requires a long and complicated process and focuses on proposals, but the new bill has brought fundamental amendments in many ways, Eyob said.
