ANALYSTS have called for the suspension of Health deputy
minister John Mangwiro, over allegations that he arm-twisted the National
Pharmaceutical Company (Natpharm) to award a US$5,6 million Covid-19 supplies
tender to an unregistered firm.
In addition, they pointed to the fact that President
Emmerson Mnangagwa had set a precedent in the past by sacking ministers who
were mired in corruption.
This comes as the government has been rocked by claims of
rampant corruption involving Covid-19 supplies, which saw Mnangagwa wielding
the axe on former Health minister Obadiah Moyo.
Amid public outrage over the latest scandal to engulf
Natpharm, political analysts told the Daily News yesterday that Mnangagwa
should suspend Mangwiro to pave the way for a thorough probe into the
allegations against him.
Senior consultant at the International Crisis Group (ICG),
Piers Pigou, warned that authorities risked losing public confidence if they
showed inconsistency in their approach to corruption — especially in cases
involving bigwigs.
“The Health MEC (Member of the Executive Council) in Gauteng
(Bandile Masuku) was dismissed on the basis of a similar preliminary
investigation last week.
“The correct course of action is clear. Deputy minister
Mangwiro should be suspended until the investigations are complete, but
preferably he should be fired.
“A clear course of action must be set, and if the president
was as committed to fighting the corruption scourge as he claims to be, we
would see him taking decisive action,” Pigou told the Daily News.
Another political analyst, Admire Mare, also called for
similar action against Mangwiro. “Everyone is innocent until proven guilty. But
if he is found guilty of the charges, then he must be fired.
“Corruption has reached unprecedented levels in Zimbabwe
and the sooner the government capacitates law enforcement agencies on handling
these cases that are bleeding the national fiscus the better.
“This culture of saying “mbudzi inodya payakasungirirwa”
must stop. Public service must not be used as a pretext for primitive
accumulation,” Mare said.
Human Rights Watch director for Southern Africa, Dewa
Mavhinga, also said there was a need for Mnangagwa to act decisively.
As correctly and first reported by the Daily News last
week, the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) has opened an
investigation against Mangwiro, over allegations that he arm-twisted Natpharm
to award a US$5,6 million Covid-19 tender to Young Health Care Limited.
The company was not registered with the Procurement
Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Praz), a requirement for companies wishing to
do business with the government.
Zacc deputy chairperson Kuziva Murapa confirmed to the
Daily News then that they were probing Mangwiro as part of wider investigations
into the procurement of Zimbabwe’s coronavirus supplies.
It is alleged that Mangwiro held a meeting with Natpharm’s
tender adjudication team one evening, before allegedly ordering them to issue a
supply order the same night for Covid-19 consumables to Young Health Care.
Surprisingly, the accusations against Mangwiro happened
between July and August — just after authorities had jettisoned Moyo and former
Natpharm chief executive Flora Sifeku.
According to a report by Zacc’s compliance and systems
department, Mangwiro allegedly forced Natpharm to award a tender for laboratory
equipment, reagents and consumables to Young Health Care.
However, the tender has since been cancelled after the
intervention of the graft-busting commission.
The Zacc report said Mangwiro allegedly convened a meeting
with the Natpharm adjudication team where he threatened them with dismissal,
after he had queried why the team was refusing to award the tender to Young
Health Care.
The report also alleged that Natpharm’s acting managing
director reported that he had received a phone call from Mangwiro instructing
him to convene a meeting with his adjudication team during odd hours, to
explain why the tender was not awarded to the company.
“The deputy minister (Mangwiro) also demanded that a
purchase order be issued that same night.
“The adjudication team was picked up from their homes
around 2200 hours and were interrogated by the deputy minister until the early
hours of the following day.
“The deputy minister threatened the team with dismissal for
failing to award Young Health Care the contracts,” the Zacc report said.
“Procurement process of the tender 04/2020 was marred by
directives from … Mangwiro, resulting in delaying of the procurement.
“A letter from the then acting secretary of Health (Gibson)
Mhlanga dated 15 July 2020, instructing Natpharm to make direct procurement of
supplies from Young Health Care … was issued when the company was not
registered with the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe.
“This is a violation of some provisions of Praz Circular 1
of 2020 which stipulate that only … listed suppliers are sources of Covid-19
supplies,” Zacc said further in the report.
The report added that when Natpharm insisted on competitive
bidding, the tender process was allegedly postponed to allow Young Health Care
to register with Praz.
“This delayed the procurement of Covid-19 materials. The
deputy minister has usurped the authority of the permanent secretary as the
accounting officer,” the report added.
According to Zacc, Mangwiro did not have the powers and
mandate to undertake administrative duties — which were the responsibility of
the permanent secretary.
The report further alleged that Young Health Care inflated
prices and was also paid in advance before it supplied the purchased goods,
after Mangwiro also allegedly directed Natpharm to do so.
“The initial quotation by Young Health Care for the supply
of commodities under direct procurement, where prices quoted by Young Heath
Care Limited were exorbitant, amounted to US$5,6 million which was
coincidentally the same amount that was in the ministry coffers, suggesting
that the company had inside information.
“When Natpharm insisted on competitive bidding, Young
Health Care Limited subsequently submitted a bid price of US$3,6 million for
the same items. This saw a reduction of 36 percent in the price.
“Young Health Care Limited was genuinely awarded the
contract to supply nucleic acid and purification machines, transport media and
reagents.
“Young Health Care Limited managed to deliver a paltry six
percent of nucleic acid and another six percent of transport media, but went on
to request pre-payment for the awarded contract, including undelivered supplies
— contrary to the terms and conditions of the contract signed with Natpharm,
which stipulates that payment should be made seven days after delivery.
“The deputy minister of Health and Child Care … reportedly
insisted on pre-payment and tasked the technical team from laboratory and
Natpharm procurement to visit Young Health Care Limited in their country office
and verify available stock … in order to compel the Natpharm acting MD to make
a prepayment to Young Health Care Limited.
“Such actions violated the eight evaluation processes since
the technical team did not have the mandate to carry out the verification of
supplies,” Zacc further said in its report.
“Given the extent to which the deputy minister was involved
in the said tender process, indications are that he was acting in his own
capacity and not on behalf of the ministry.
“The actions of the deputy minister signal a personal
interest in the tender and this should have prompted him to declare his
interest.
“The conduct of the minister during this tender process
warrants further investigations for criminal abuse of office for possible
violation of Section 174 of the Criminal Law Codification Act.
“Apart from this provision, further investigations should
be conducted to ascertain possible violation of Section 14 of the Public
Finance Management Act … by the deputy minister through giving ministerial
directives having financial implications when he demanded pre-payment of
undelivered goods to Young Health Care,” Zacc added. Daily News
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