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Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter

VICE President, Dr Costantino Chiwenga, has officially opened Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ) inaugural annual conference here where he implored procurement officers to uphold professional ethics and transparency.

In his keynote speech, he said procurement is central to the achievement of the country’s development objectives and warned against corrupt tendencies.

Dr Chiwenga said members of the public who fail to report acts of corruption by any public or private sector official are also guilty of corruption.

He said corruption was a cancer that threatens the country’s development, adding that procurement plays a pivotal regulatory role in the entire public sector.

“Among other agencies of the State, PRAZ is central to the achievement of our development objectives as it plays the vital role of regulating procurement in the entire public sector,” he said.

“I would like to make it clear that if a public procurement official solicits or extorts a bribe from you, but you are unwilling or afraid to expose the official by reporting the crime, it means that you are not only equally to blame, but also corrupt.

“This is because the highest risk of corruption for the Government lies in public procurement.” VP Chiwenga commended PRAZ for organising and holding the first ever procurement conference that seeks to enhance the efficiency and integrity of public procurement even when undertaken under the circumstances of an emergency.

The conference, which ends this afternoon, is being held under the theme: “Balancing emergencies with efficiency and integrity.” VP Chiwenga said the conference does not only fulfil one of the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe’s functions in terms of Section 6 (1) (h) of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets (PPDPA) Act Chapter 22:23, which requires the authority to promote the training and professional development of persons engaged in public procurement so as to ensure their adherence to high ethical standards, but also to share lessons from other countries’ experiences in public procurement  especially during this era of Covid-19 era.

 @ncubeleon