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Business Reporter
PERMANENT secretaries and accounting officers across the country will face charges of dereliction of duty, defined as a legal failure to perform assigned statutory obligations—if they do not comply with national procurement laws, the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) warned.
Permanent secretaries are the top non-political civil servants who run the day-to-day administrative and financial operations of government ministries.
Under public finance laws, accounting officers are responsible for line ministries’ budgets, financial compliance and proper use of public funds.
The warning directly targets public officials who bypass legal frameworks, with failure to execute statutory duties constituting a punishable breach of public trust and legal responsibility under administrative regulations.
The directive, detailed in Procurement Circular 2026 issued on September 4, 2026, by Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Dr Martin Rushwaya, follows widespread observations of procuring entities violating the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act.
The non-compliance has extended to Government transactions conducted under bilateral and multilateral agreements.
“No international commitment, MoU, or diplomatic understanding shall be construed as exempting any procurement from the application of this Act,” Dr Rushwaya said in the circular.
He stressed that public officials carrying out contract negotiations must enforce full compliance across every stage, “from planning through to contract management and completion.”
To protect domestic suppliers and stimulate local production, the OPC instructed all state agencies to strictly apply Section 29 of the Act, which mandates domestic preference and reservation schemes regardless of project funding sources.
