Parliament has denied buying fuel for parliamentarians at
more than the Government-prescribed rates, saying an exchange note circulating
on social media platforms implying that the institution bought the commodity at
a higher price was for a private transaction involving an individual MP.
The fuel exchange note being circulated implies that
Parliament was buying fuel at $10,50 per litre, which is way above set limits.
In a statement yesterday, Parliament said their
investigations had shown that the particular transaction involved an unnamed MP
who wanted to exchange expired fuel coupons.
“The fuel coupon exchange note in question involved a
transaction between an individual Member of Parliament who was replacing
expired coupons at Redan Pvt (Ltd) and not the institution of Parliament,” reads
part of the statement.
“The only reason the exchange note reflects the name of the
institution is primarily because the coupons are purchased by Parliament as an
institution for all Members of Parliament and subsequently issued to individual
members.
“The serial numbers of the coupons in Redan’s system thus
reflect Parliament of Zimbabwe as the procuring entity and not the individual
member. That notwithstanding, Parliament of Zimbabwe engaged Redan over the
matter and was advised that the exchange note was generated and issued to the
Member of Parliament for the sole reason of enabling him to collect the new
coupons.
“The member in question was never charged for the
transaction. In other words, the coupon exchange note is an internal Redan
document whose esoteric figures are understood by Redan staff, but do not
reflect the prevailing coupon prices and should thus not be used as a pricing
reference point.”
Parliament said it was unfortunate that the MP in question
decided to circulate the document on social media platforms without verifying
with Redan or Parliament what the figures meant. Herald
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