Levy's involvement in procurement deals
Levy's involvement in procurement dealsBy Editor
Friday October 19, 2007 [04:00]
We share the concerns genuinely raised by the Catholic Church and Transparency International Zambia over President Levy Mwanawasa's involvement in the procurement of public goods and services in the country. It was actually surprising that Levy was on Tuesday bragging about how he told Ministry of Energy officials to leave his office when they were attempting to explain to him the tender procedure requirement they were faced with over procurement of crude oil.
How embarrassing it was that Levy could brag about how the government had received an offer from a named bank that was prepared to finance one ship of crude oil but that the persons who were responsible declined to deal with the bank in order for the Zambia National Tender Board to advertise the tenders for importation of crude oil to Zambia.
From the outset, we have to say that what Levy is doing - to involve himself in procurement deals for national goods and services - is not right. We are not disputing the fact that Levy, as head of state, should take particular interest in national affairs, including the flow of fuel in the country.
As head of state, we expect that Levy should be on top of things in terms of whatever is going on in the country. However, we are totally opposed to Levy's direct and deep involvement in business deals with business people, even if the benefit is to the nation. In the first place, Levy's direct or deep involvement in business deals opens him very much to any form of corruption, whether he likes it or not.
Second, in the interest of fair competition and transparency in the business sector, Levy should try as much as possible to keep a long distance from business persons seeking business deals with the government directly with and through him.
Over the procurement of crude oil, for instance, we agree with other stakeholders that former Ministry of Energy permanent secretary Buleti Nsemukila was in order to insist that the deal should be done through a public tender procedure. After all, this is what the law requires of any public officer, especially a controlling officer at that level.
The Zambia National Tender Board Act was put in place as a piece of law to, among other things, regulate and control the procurement of goods and services for the government and parastatal bodies. And this law requires that there be tender committees established at different levels for the procurement of goods and services.
The Act provides for establishment of a central tender committee, a provincial tender committee, a parastatal tender committee as well as at ministry level.
According to this law, the functions of a ministry tender committee includes such functions as to invite and accept tenders relating to the procurement of goods and services for its ministry within the limits provided for in Part VI of the Act and that such a committee shall consist of, among others, the controlling officer (permanent secretary in this case) who shall be the chairman; an officer of at least deputy permanent secretary rank, who shall be vice-chairman; the head of the accounting unit; the head of the procurement unit; the heads of departments; and a senior supplies officer, who shall be the secretary.
In our view, the Zambia National Tender Board Act is quite adequate to ensure that procurement of public goods and services is done under the most transparent and fair atmosphere.
And we think that Levy's behaviour over the crude oil deal with the named bank is discouraging to those public officers who are still interested in ensuring that the law is applied all the time with regards to procurement of goods and services.
In fact, Levy should be ashamed that instead of praising such public officers for their honesty, he is at the forefront of ensuring that tender procedures are bypassed, flouted and ignored in the procurement of such gigantic amounts of fuel which involve a lot of money.
Assuming that the law allows Levy - especially that he keeps telling us that all executive powers are vested in his office - to bypass tender procedures and offer business deals to persons or entities of his preference, that itself will seriously erode confidence in the manner the government conducts its business with other business partners.
If Levy is truly leading a government of laws and not that of men, why is he wittingly breaching the law as regards tender procedures when it comes to procurement of goods and services?
Of late, it has become common for Levy to announce publicly, without any shame whatsoever, that he is negotiating with this or that business person in order to procure such a service.
We have not forgotten that recently when he was in Chipata, he told a crowd of his cadres that he was in discussion with a chairman of a certain local bank in order to help secure some K200 billion credit for the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) to purchase maize from farmers.
The idea itself is not bad but Levy should not think that Zambians are fools and they cannot see through some of his schemes and dealings. He may not mention the business persons he discusses with in order for them to access government business deals, but Zambians are not too naïve to interpret what is happening.
As if his involvement in the FRA deal for K200 billion were not enough, Levy was on Tuesday again telling the nation, without mentioning names, that some local bank had expressed interest in assisting the government to procure crude oil? Which local bank is this? For the sake of transparency and fairness, can Levy tell the nation exactly which bank has expressed interest in helping his government to procure crude oil?
We are interested to know because this business involves huge amounts of money and we are certain that all players in the economy would want to have a share of this business opportunity.
In short, what we are saying is that it is not right for Levy to be deeply involved in business transactions that can actually be handled transparently and fairly by other government officers or agencies responsible for the various sectors of our economy.
We need not return to the Frederick Chiluba era where business deals were being cut and sealed at State House. Instead of entertaining business people seeking business opportunities or favours from him at State House, Levy should start looking at how his government can improve on the institutional capacity of all sectors so that business can be conducted in a more predictable, transparent and fair manner for the benefit of all players.
If laws and regulations are in place, there is no need for anyone, not even Levy, to start cutting corners or taking short-cuts in the name of urgency or expediency.
When there is institutional capacity in our systems, there certainly should be efficiency, effectiveness and orderliness in whatever we do. And that is where Levy should be paying his attention to, not to be selectively entertaining business persons who are scared of fair competition on the market.
Labels: EDITORIAL, FUEL, MWANAWASA, PROCUREMENT SYSTEMS
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