TENDAI BHEBE IN BULAWAYO
Local authorities are disregarding a directive by the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ) to adhere to recommended public procurement processes, adversely impacting the government’s value for money considerations.
In 2017, the government promulgated the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Act to ensure the procurement and disposal of goods is done in a manner that is transparent, fair, honest, cost effective and competitive.
But, in an interview with Business Times on the sidelines of a Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets training workshop for media practitioners in Bulawayo, PRAZ chief executive officer, Clever Ruswa, said urban local authorities were the most reluctant to follow the procurement processes.
“As a regulator, we said let’s invoke Section 3 subsection 7 of the Act. But, most of them were not so forthcoming,” Ruswa said.
Section 73 of the Public Procurement Disposal of Public Assets Act [Chapter 22:23] highlights the procedure to be taken by an aggrieved party to a procurement process conducted or is being conducted by a procuring entity.
Ruswa said deviation was a red flag in the procurement procedures.
“The deviations most of the time probably comes from the method of procurement which they may then want to use that would be diverting from what they would have intended to do.
“Especially when we see them doing a lot of direct procurement for us it’s a red flag because we are saying if everything is being planned, why are you not giving competition?”
Some local authorities blame procurement bottlenecks for delayed execution of several capital projects after being allocated funds.
PRAZ said most problems emanate from procurement managers who give wrong information to accounting officers regarding the procurement process.
