Government has through the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA) issued a directive to all its ministries, agencies and departments to only procure grains from certified suppliers.
Addressing journalists on Tuesday, State Minister for Investment and Privatization, Evelyn Anite said that in a bid to ensure quality grains, Uganda National Bureau of Standards(UNBS) certified 630 service providers around the country and that these will be the go to for government.
“All government entities to procure grains from these suppliers certified by UNBS. If a company or suppliers is not certified by UNBS, government will not be allowed to procure from that company to avoid buying contaminated foods,” Anite said.
“We are doing this to protect lives of our humans to enable us trade national, regionally and internationally. It is time we saved ourselves and nation at large.”
The directive means that government entities like Uganda Prisons, Uganda Police, Ministry of Defence , primary and secondary schools will be obliged to buy grains including posho and maize from these certified service providers.
PPDA Executive Director, Benson Turamye said the move is in line with the PPDA Act cap 205, noting that as many government entities are involved in procurement of grains, they will now be mandate to only do so with those certified.
“UNBS already had the suppliers certified and government agencies will now ask for certificate of certification from suppliers or else those without will be disqualified,”Turamye said.
“There are those suppliers who have been having framework contracts with government agencies and we now ask them to update their records to show their certification with UNBS or else, they will now be disqualified.”
The move comes at a time when government is trying to solve the problem of aflatoxins in grains, especially maize.
Last year, several trucks of Ugandan grains destined for South Sudan were seized by the Juba government and ordered to return home after finding high levels of aflatoxins .