{"id":78102,"date":"2023-05-21T22:38:20","date_gmt":"2023-05-21T20:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/russian-helicopters-deal-never-approved-in-national-budget-biti"},"modified":"2023-05-22T00:46:49","modified_gmt":"2023-05-21T22:46:49","slug":"russian-helicopters-deal-never-approved-in-national-budget-biti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/russian-helicopters-deal-never-approved-in-national-budget-biti","title":{"rendered":"Russian Helicopters Deal Never Approved In National Budget – Biti"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>President Emmerson Mnangagwa\u2019s administration has been criticised over the purchase of 32 helicopters from Russia worth a reported US$320 million without following laid down procurement procedures.<\/p>\n

Mnangagwa took delivery of 18 out of the 32 Kazan Ansat helicopters from Russia under a public-private partnership (PPP) last Thursday.<\/p>\n

The helicopters reportedly cost US$2.5 million each when new but Zimbabwe bought each of the planes for US$10 million amid indications that they are secondhand.<\/p>\n

The Government said the choppers will be used as air ambulances, search and rescue, and air policing.<\/p>\n

Former Minister of Finance, Tendai Biti, who is CCC deputy president, told The Standard that procurement procedures were not followed in buying the planes. Biti said:<\/p>\n

Remember all expenditures are approved in Parliament, but this expenditure was never approved in the budget.<\/p>\n

It means that it\u2019s an unlawful purchase.<\/p>\n

The country\u2019s procurement law makes it very clear that there has to be competitive bidding during a procurement process and certainly this was not done.<\/p>\n

The state should challenge the immorality of this. Why are they buying helicopters when civil servants are not properly paid?<\/p>\n

US$320 million is a lot of money and their bigger priority is buying helicopters.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s now self-evident that the prices are inflated, this also means that the brand new helicopter will cost US$2.5 million yet we are being sold a second-hand helicopter at almost the same amount.<\/p>\n

The problem that we have as a country is that we now have a kleptomaniac government, so anything that happens they are just thinking about money, corruption and the bottom line of their self-aggrandisement.<\/p>\n

Biti pledged to raise the matter in Parliament and ask the relevant committee to investigate the murky deal.<\/p>\n

The Government recently backtracked on a new law that sought to conceal procurement processes in the Health ministry from the public after an outcry.<\/p>\n

Mnangagwa repealed the General Notice 635 gazetted in an extraordinary Government gazette last week after critics argued that the law would promote corruption.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zimbabwe<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. President Emmerson Mnangagwa\u2019s administration has been criticised over the purchase of 32 helicopters from Russia worth a reported US$320 million without following laid down procurement procedures. Mnangagwa took delivery of 18 out of the 32 Kazan Ansat helicopters from Russia under a public-private partnership (PPP) last Thursday. The helicopters reportedly cost US$2.5 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":78100,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,12],"tags":[1493,2189,14697,14698,14699,1164,19],"class_list":{"0":"post-78102","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-head-lines","9":"category-policy","10":"tag-africa-press","11":"tag-africa-press-zimbabwe-2","12":"tag-air-ambulances","13":"tag-choppers","14":"tag-helicopters","15":"tag-tendai-biti","16":"tag-zimbabwe"},"yoast_head":"\nRussian Helicopters Deal Never Approved In National Budget - Biti - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"President Emmerson Mnangagwa\u2019s administration has been criticised over the purchase of 32 helicopters from Russia worth ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/russian-helicopters-deal-never-approved-in-national-budget-biti\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Russian Helicopters Deal Never Approved In National Budget - 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