adminFinance Minister Tendai Biti who last November had banned councils from handling tenders and ordered the local authorities to dissolve municipal procurement committees, recently reversed the decision saying he had realised that the move was going to paralyse operations of councils.
Minister Biti who was responding to increased reports of corruption within councils, had directed that all tenders be handled by the State Procurement Board, a move which meant that it was going to take very long for council tenders to be processed.
Following consultation with the Office of the President and the Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs, it was resolved to reverse Minister Biti’s decision and allow councils to continue awarding tenders as provided for by the Urban Councils Act. Minister Biti’s decision was meant to curb corruption but the measure was just too drastic given the operations of councils.
People have over the years complained about SPB’s delays in processing tenders which in some cases has adversely affected implementation of projects. There have been numerous reports of corruption which recently forced Government to whittle down the SPB powers.
Under the new arrangement the SPB will become a mere regulatory body as the line ministries will now award tenders as part of measures to improve efficiency.
The move by Minister Biti was therefore misplaced because it meant reverting to the old system whereby the SPB awarded tenders and given tenders handled by the different local authorities throughout the country, the SPB was going to be overwhelmed by work.
We therefore want to applaud the Government for moving swiftly to correct Minister Biti’s impulsive decision whose consequences were too ghastly to contemplate.
It is true that there is rampant corruption within councils and the worst affected are the municipal procurement committees that are being greased to award tenders. It is a fact that most of the councillors who have become rich overnight are benefiting from bribes being paid by companies to win tenders. This has been confirmed by the MDC-T party which runs most of the urban councils. The party has in fact fired a number of councillors it felt had benefited from the “dirty” money paid by unscrupulous companies that have won tenders running into millions of dollars.
Now that the councils have been given back the powers to award tenders, the challenge now is to ensure that the system is as transparent as possible.
Councils cannot deny the fact that councillors were receiving kickbacks for awarding tenders to certain companies in some cases to the detriment of councils that end up forking out large sums of money for work that could have cost far less had the right companies been awarded the tenders.
It should be the responsibility of each and every council to ensure that it has plugged all the loopholes that allow councillors handling tenders to manipulate the system for their benefit.
There have been cases of councillors forming briefcase companies to win tenders and thereafter contract out the work to bigger companies that pay them kickbacks.
Minister Biti should not give up his fight against corruption and should follow closely the issue of awarding tenders by councils. The Minister of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development should also ensure systems are put in place to curb corruption within councils.
The present scenario whereby individuals who were street vendors before being elected councillors are owners of mansions in leafy suburbs of different towns and cities because of bribes cannot be allowed to continue. Councillors are voted into office to serve residents and not to enrich themselves as is the case now.
We fully support the decision to allow councils to continue awarding tenders so that the implementation of projects is speeded up but at the same time the system must not prejudice councils.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter