A ZIMBABWE Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) report says Deputy Health Minister John Mangwiro should face the music over a tender scam involving US$5.6 million.<\/p>\n
Mangwiro, it has been reported, allegedly used his undue influence in favour of an undeserving company which offered Covid-19 equipment and other medicines.<\/p>\n
The revelations were triggered by an anonymous letter filed at ZACC alleging that the top government official caused the awarding of a tender to a Young Healthcare Limited whose products were said to be sub-standard and did not meet World Health Organisation and FDA specifications.<\/p>\n
The company was accused of making price quotes which were higher than other competitors offering WHO approved products.<\/p>\n
The under-fire minister was also accused of convening a meeting with the tenders’ adjudication team on whom he piled pressure and threatened with dismissal if they failed to approve the tender.<\/p>\n
In its findings, ZACC found Mangwiro liable to non-compliance with provisions of Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe Circular 1 of 2020 and gross violations of the Public Finance Management Act and the Public Entities 5 Corporate Governance Act.<\/p>\n
The report says Mangwiro issued numerous directives to National Pharmaceutical (Natpharm) Company, a government owned company that procures warehouses and distributes medicines and medical supplies to the health sector.<\/p>\n
“A letter from the then Acting Secretary of Health Dr. Mhlanga dated 15 July 2020, instructing Nat-Pharm to make direct procurement of supplies from Young Health Care (attached) was issued when the company was not registered with PRAZ,” ZACC said.<\/p>\n
The anti-corruption organ’s report said this was despite the fact that Mangwiro does not have authority to issue directives to Natpharm.<\/p>\n
The report notes that the initial quotation by Young Health Care for supply of commodities under direct procurement, where prices quoted by the firm were exorbitant, amounted to US$5 600 000-00.<\/p>\n
This, coincidentally, was the same amount that was in the ministry coffers’, suggesting that the company had inside information.<\/p>\n
“When Nat-Pharm insisted on competitive bidding, Young Health Care Limited subsequently submitted a bid price of USD$3 600 000-00 for the same items. This saw a reduction of 36% in the price,” ZACC said in the report.<\/p>\n
The report also observed that the tender was only floated for 48hrs instead of 40 working days under normal circumstances, resulting in 22 bidders participating.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A ZIMBABWE Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) report says Deputy Health Minister John Mangwiro should face the music over a tender scam involving US$5.6 million. Mangwiro, it has been reported, allegedly used his undue influence in favour of an undeserving company which offered Covid-19 equipment and other medicines. The revelations were triggered by an anonymous letter filed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":17070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[1388,386],"class_list":{"0":"post-28731","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-policy","9":"tag-covid-19","10":"tag-zacc"},"yoast_head":"\n