A comedy of errors
A visitor to Zimbabwe this week would have been shocked how the government communicates.
It started with a Statutory Instrument that purported to come from President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s office shielding certain aspects in the health sector from scrutiny in procurement under the guise of national interest.
The General Notice 635 of 2023 decreed that construction equipment and materials, biomedical and medical equipment, medicines and drugs (pharmaceuticals), vehicles including ambulances, laboratory equipment, chemicals and accessories, hospital protective equipment and repairs and maintenance services of hospital equipment and machinery had special procurement.
This drew an outcry from the public who felt this was another platform for the well connected to loot, as there was no scrutiny.
Procurement in government has been mired in controversy with the former Health and Child Care minister Obadiah Moyo arrested in 2020 on allegations of corruption regarding a US$60m deal to procure COVID-19 test kits and medical equipment.
Yesterday, Information permanent secretary Nick Mangwana defended the Statutory Instrument saying the idea was to disentangle purchases of emergency medical supplies or critical equipment repairs from the long drawn procurement process.
“So the import of the General Notice is not to avoid public accountability but to allow life saving procurement. Supposing there is an urgent need for certain theatre sundries, without the “Notice”, it would mean the hospital would need to publish a tender first, and go through the long drawn process putting patient safety and life at risk. This “Notice” gives room for direct procurement of such sundries without the need for bureaucratic procurement processes,” he tweeted.
Before the citizens could digest Mangwana’s explanation, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s office disowned the General Notice 635 of 2023.
Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Misheck Sibanda said in a press statement that the notice was a nullity having been published without authorisation and without his signature, as is the norm.
“While further investigations are underway, the Government wishes to advise the public that, on the instruction of His Excellency the President, the document in question has been rescinded as it has no standing at law, in policy and in terms of set government procedures. It thus should be disregarded,” Sibanda said, adding the government remained committed to managing a “transparent public procurement policy”.
In the court of public opinion, the withdrawal of the notice via a press statement was a result of the public outcry, hence the government caved in.
There are unanswered questions. How did the notice come out? What did that notice intend to achieve if it did not originate from the Office of the President and Cabinet?
This is not the first time there has been mixed communication from the government. It happened some months ago over the delimitation report.
This saga should be seen as a blessing in disguise for the government to sort out the mess in how it communicates with its citizens and avoid the comedy of errors that have blighted this administration.
