Speech by the HON. MINISTER FOR FINANCE, MP, NEAL RIJKENBERG
at the official opening of the Procurement Indaba 2019
Tuesday 05 November, 2019
Royal Swazi Sun Convention Centre, EZulwini.
Members of both Houses of Parliament
Chairman of ESPPRA
ESPPRA Board
CEO of ESPPRA;
Principal Secretaries
Chairpersons of portfolio committees from various Ministries;
The CEOs present here today;
Senior Government officials
Representatives of social partner formations;
Experts and Academia in the procurement sphere;
Developmental partners
Esteemed entrepreneurs and investors;
Members of the Media;
Ladies and gentlemen
Good Morning to you all
1. It is indeed an honour for us to be part of this grand gathering of fellow citizen and developmental partners where we are gathered to engage on how we can continue to use procurement as a tool for “accelerating economic recovery, growth and sustainable development through strategic public procurement and public private partnerships (PPPs)”. I am enthusiastic to notice such a number of participants in this great event. It surely promises to be the success that it was planned to be.
2. Programme director, it is not an overstatement to speculate that, at times like these, we cannot afford to come here with either the sole purpose of protecting our respective turfs or scratching the surface but we are here for the simple reason that procurement, as a function, is a critical lever for our radical economic transformation efforts. Therefore, our gathering here for the next two days is not necessarily about the discussion of procurement at a theoretical level but about ensuring that, we optimally utilize procurement to breathe life to our ailing economy for the betterment of all Emaswati.
3. In this regard, we cannot afford to limit our engagement to the realm of our current reality, but to open our minds to the scope of that which exists beyond our reality to consider what is out there and to possibly improve on that to find out what could work the best for our unique environment and country. This Indaba is, therefore, a call for all of us to rethink the way we have been doing things. But, we must all admit that the current vehicle that is procurement has not delivered on the potential that it holds.
4. Ladies and Gentlemen, the very fact, for example, that the Eswatini public sector in the year 2017/2018 spent about E14 billion which accounts for 22% of the GDP to procure goods, works and services should make it automatic, given our developmental approach and the transformational pieces of legislation and policies, that Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises would thrive. The marginalized majority of our people should be drawn into the mainstream economy and we should see more and more people getting out of poverty. It is the task of this gathering not only to look at the root causes of this disconnect between the huge public sector investment and the slow emergence of successful entrepreneurs, but also to come up with workable and sustainable solutions to fixing it.
5.Procurement has been identified as one of His Majesty’s Governments priority areas if we are to seriously reverse the current economic state of affairs. This is so because government and public entities combined are a major procurer of goods, services and works in their quest to provide social benefit to the people of Eswatini and grow the economy. I therefore want to challenge you distinguished delegates to have robust deliberations on how government can improve efficiency and effectiveness of the procurement system to achieve our national economic objectives.
6. We are pleased to note that the private sector is also part of this Indaba and they will also share with us some of the creative and innovative approaches they have adopted to ensure that procurement takes forward the objectives of the National Development Strategy and the Eswatini Government Strategic Roadmap 2019-2023. In particular, we need to know how SMMEs and businesses benefit from public sector procurement.
7. It would be amiss of me not to express my greatest appreciation for the support that the World Bank Group and Multipronged. our partners and sponsors have afforded us to ensure that the event is a success.
8. Distinguished delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, I now declare the Procurement Indaba 2019 officially opened.