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THE operations of the State Procurement Board have at best been opaque and at worst mired in a cloak of secrecy, raising suspicions about the transparency of activities of one of the crucial arms of government. Most capital projects in the country depend on the adjudication process of the SPB to ensure that the right companies are entrustedi with undertaking important jobs for government.

To be fair to the SPB, it has presided over the awarding of tenders for crucial projects that have been implemented to completion and to the satisfaction of everyone but there have been reports of underhand dealings and corruption involving multi-million or even billion dollar tenders, sullying the image of the board. For years, businesses from outside Harare have complained of being sidelined when it comes to the awarding of tenders for jobs in their respective areas and accused the SPB of favouring their cronies in the capital.

Of course, they have a point because it does not make sense to award a tender for the supply of linen or medical sundries to Mpilo Central Hospital to a Harare company when there is a Bulawayo company with the capacity to do so. The SPB has also been accused of delaying the adjudication of tender applications, hampering the speedy implementation of government projects. Against this background, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Investment Promotion in 2012 recommended that the SPB be overhauled to stamp out corruption and increase tenders awarded to businesspeople in their localities.

The committee, chaired by Goromonzi MP Cde Paddy Zhanda, concluded its inquiry into allegations levelled against the board by contractors and procuring entities. It also investigated allegations that the board was failing to make follow-ups on the performance of contractors. In the course of the committee’s inquiry, public hearings were held in Bulawayo and Harare while the chairman of the SPB Charles Kuwaza gave oral evidence.

In its report presented to Parliament, the committee noted that the State tender system favoured contractors resident in Harare as tenders were advertised in Harare newspapers. “Stakeholders cited the challenge arising from the centralisation of the SPB offices in Harare. Contractors outside the main cities also have challenges in collecting tender documents and submitting bids. To them the tender process is costly and time consuming as it demands that one travels to Harare, in some cases resulting in disqualifications arising from late submission of documents,” read the report.

The committee also noted that the SPB was composed of people who lacked the technical know-how on projects. Tenders were often awarded to the lowest bidders and in awarding the tenders, the SPB often disregarded the recommendations of the professional team resulting in failure by the contractors to perform. To date, the recommendations of the committee are yet to be implemented resulting in the orgy of corruption continuing uninterrupted. However, the new Zanu-PF government appears to have extended its anti-corruption drive to the SPB and this is commendable.

According to a report in yesterday’s Chronicle, government has established a Cabinet Committee to monitor the SPB to ensure transparency. This follows reports that some undeserving companies were being awarded multi-million dollar projects through corrupt dealings.

Government has unearthed serious malpractices in the bidding system which resulted in firms awarded tenders failing to complete projects owing to lack of capacity.
In some cases tenders were being awarded to shelf companies that would then outsource the project and/or seek equipment from other firms after having claimed to have capacity to do the work tendered for.

We welcome the formation of the committee chaired by Finance Minister Cde Patrick Chinamasa and hope that it will immediately knuckle down to business and cleanse the SPB of its corrupt tendencies.

It needs to get to the root of the problem by interrogating the tender procedures and plugging all loopholes and avenues for manipulation of the process. It takes two to tango and the committee must also blacklist all firms that seek to win tenders by offering kickbacks. We are under no illusion about the enormity of the task at hand due to the deeply entrenched culture of greed and entitlement engrained in that board but we are confident that the committee will do its best to weed out the bad apples from the SPB. Zimbabwe needs to start afresh and resuscitate the economy with the right people in the crucial positions in government.

The fight against graft will only succeed if all departments of government are free of it. Crucially, the revival of the economy hinges on a clean, lean and efficient bureaucracy that is focused on delivering for the nation. We are glad that the current government has declared war on all forms of corruption and are positive that it will prevail in the end.