PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday raised the red flag over corruption in the public procurement processes as dubious contractors continue to bleed government coffers.
Addressing delegates at the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ) third annual conference in Harare yesterday, Mnangagwa also expressed concern over irregularities in the public procurement systems including favouritism and diversion of public funds.
He said the electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) system, which was launched yesterday, would plug corrupt tendencies while modernising government procurement processes.
“While procurement issues tend to attract corrupt activities in the economy, such malpractices have no space in my government,” Mnangagwa said.
“The electronic Government Procurement system should, therefore, minimise human interface and assist in dealing with corruption issues associated with the procurement sector.
“Interactions in the system would be auditable and verifiable. The chicanery and shadowy award of contracts associated with our public tender processes must be put to an end. The cases related to irregular payments, poor corporate governance, opaqueness in the award of contracts, favouritism and diversion of funds, among others will not be condoned.”
Under the e-GP system, the entire procurement cycle of public entities from the procurement plan, bid notices and award of contracts would be publicised on the Praz website.
The e-GP will also allow for bidding to be done electronically, allowing competition by domestic and international bidders and reducing the costs involved.
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Recent reports by the Auditor-General on the government departments, State enterprises and parastatals have exposed gross corruption and failure to follow procurement procedures, resulting in billions of dollars being lost to graft.
In 2020, former Health minister Obadiah Moyo was sacked by Mnangagwa after he was linked to a shady US$60 million contract for COVID-19 supplies which flouted procurement processes.
He was, however, later acquitted by the courts of law.
Last year, Parliament also touched off a storm after it authorised a tender for the supply of 173 laptops valued at US$9 200 each which were deemed over-priced by the Finance ministry.
Mnangagwa urged procurement officials to prioritise local products and services.
“I, thus, challenge the procurement officials to be men and women of integrity. Similarly, priority must be given to locally available products, services and solutions, in line with our local content strategy and in support of the innovations coming out of our Innovation hubs,” he said.
“Let me reiterate that the success of public procurement is essentially the success of the government as a whole. If public procurement succeeds, the attainment of our national development priorities and Vision 2030 will be accelerated.”
