The newly-confirmed Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA) executive director has highlighted fighting corruption in the procurement system as top priority.”
Mr Benson Turamye was confirmed as the substantive executive director on Monday after serving 26 months in acting capacity.
Mr Turamye said he will ensure that the procurement process is faster and more efficient so that service delivery is improved.
“You see this procurement is a means to service delivery. We cannot continue to waste time on procurement when services are supposed to be delivered at specific times. If we are going to spend a year, then that service is no longer required so my first focus is to ensure efficiency. We are going to fight the bottlenecks that are hindering delivery of services,” he said. 
He said the automated procurement system will be piloted and later on rolled out to all government ministries and government departments to ensure that there is minimal interface between the bidders and the contracts evaluation committee members. This, he said, will help deal with influence peddling and corruption.
“…You know if you are heading procurement unit and you are not ensuring that these services are delivered in time, you are just sabotaging government programmes,” he added.