Finance Minister has described the State Procurement Board, which is responsible for awarding all major government tenders, as the “capital city of corruption” which was even awarding tenders to briefcase business people.
“When you talk about corruption, be it in government or the private sector, first look at the procurement system. This is the capital city of corruption. Public procurement systems are strategic tools that can either make or destroy a country. They are central to economic value chains and it is the procurement function that can normalise or distort the cost structure in an economic system,” Chinamasa said, according to The Herald.
“When it comes to tenders, something which I have noticed and which worries me is the dominance of briefcase businesses in the tender system. People come to bid yet they do not own anything and, say it is a tender for soap, you will find out they do not have a factory but they are the people who get the tender. The next thing after winning the tender they go to the people who make soap. By so doing the cost structure is different.
We have to do due diligence on those who tender and find out where they are going to find their supplies. We have to enhance the public procurement legislation and governance structures to minimise distortions, that is, the role of middlemen and collusion (with SPB) that increases the cost of doing business and also reach out to a broader supplier base.”
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