Procurement Bill to stem graft

Sifelani Tsiko recently in Kariba —
Government is fast–tracking the Procurement Amendment Bill to ensure greater transparency and stem runaway corruption that has permeated both the public and private sector, costing the country millions of dollars in revenue leakages every year. Mr Nyasha Chizu, senior procurement executive in the Office of the President and Cabinet, told journalists at a recent media workshop on public procurement that the Bill would be introduced to Parliament soon.

“Extensive consultations have been made on this Bill and we expect it to be gazetted and presented to Parliament next week (this week) or so,” he said.

“It is very important for the country to ensure that we do not have a system that is opaque and open to corruption. As the media, you are the voice of the voiceless and an eye of the public. You have a big role to play to make sure the public is well-informed about the Bill.”

Stakeholders have already been consulted as Government aligns the State Procurement Board Act with Section 315 of the new Constitution, which among other things removes the SPB from the role of chief Government procurement agency to a regulator. Under the proposed changes, the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe will become the main State procurement arm while the SPB will supervise and monitor the authority in line with international best practices.

The Bill also proposes a uniform, streamlined process to eliminate loopholes procurement. The World Bank has since 2010 been supporting Government’s public sector reforms to address structural issues hindering competitiveness. The multilateral body has offered technical assistance and capacity building in public financial management, revenue administration and financial sector supervision among other areas.

Zimbabwe has demonstrated its commitment to implementing reforms of the Public Finance Management, Procurement, Banking, Labour Relations, Income, and Public Debt Management Acts. Mr Chizu said the Procurement Bill would ensure transparency, accountability and probity in the procurement process, fair and equitable treatment of bidders, promoting competition, enhance efficiency, and boost integrity and public confidence.

Government procurement accounts for more than 20 percent of GDP and procurement experts say the case for a robust law to curb corruption in the tendering system is compelling.

Mr Chizu said, “Up to 70 or 80 percent of the Government’s budget is spent through procurement and it’s very important to revamp our laws and enhance efficiency. Any inefficiency causes a lot of misery among our people in terms of poor service delivery and incomplete projects.”

Cabinet ministers and other senior Government officials, as well as private sector executives, have been implicated in corrupt handling of procurement procedures.

“Procurement can be used to direct economic sabotage,” said Mr Chizu.

“It can be used to retard or weaken the Government. Procurement is a very strategic economic tool and it can be used to direct political agendas. So as you investigate the matters you need to be knowledgeable.”

Shocking revelations — such as one Government ministry purportedly buying ballpoint pens for US$1 each — were made at the media workshop.

“We are not going to have a situation whereby a pen in government is costing $1 and a pen in the shops is costing only 10 cents,” Mr Chizu said.

“Currently we have a situation where stationery costs in one ministry differ from the other. Stationery is stationery, a paper is a paper and the cost should be similar.”

He said under the proposed law, there would be shared procurement on such items and use of similar terms and conditions for purchasing them. Governments across the globe, according to the World Bank, spend approximately US$9,5 trillion collectively on procurement.

“This has a potent impact on procurement around the world,” said World Bank expert Ms Norma Garza.

“It’s vulnerable to wastefulness, corruption, mismanagement and fraud owing largely to the opaqueness of public procurement.”

She said the World Bank was pushing for open contracting, which focuses on disclosure and participation in the process to enhance public financial management, transparency and accountability.

“Open contracting is a tool for preventing corruption and for the protection of assets,” she said.

“It makes it possible to follow and track how money is used from the pre-planning stage up to the implementation stage. Zambia is the only country that has adopted the standard and we hope Zimbabwe will follow soon.”

She said it was critical for Zimbabwe to move from the current paper–based procurement and financial management systems to electronic ones.

“Political will is necessary and it’s important for the operation of public management systems. It won’t be easy just like having a caterpillar transforming itself into a butterfly,” she added. — Zimpapers Syndication.