Chinhoyi Hospital CEO in court for flouting tender process
By James Muonwa l Mashonaland West Correspondent
CHINHOYI Provincial Hospitalās long-serving chief executive, Dr Collet John Mawire, has appeared in court following his arrest on allegations of criminal abuse of office involving procurement of equipment without going to public tender.
Mawire was arrested Tuesday by Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) investigators and spent the night in police custody.
He appeared before Magistrate Shepherd Munjanja this Wednesday and was admitted to US$300 bail, ordered not to interfere with witnesses, reside at his given address, report once a fortnight at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Chinhoyi, and surrender his passport.
The matter was postponed to November 29 for routine remand.
The complainant in the matter is Benson Share, operations director at the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ).
Dr Collet John Mawire
Mawire, who is medical superintendent and defacto chief executive officer at the hospital, is the first accused person while fugitive Ottilia Nkomo, former procurement manager is second accused and is yet to be accounted for.
The duo was responsible for, among other duties, ensuring procurement of goods and services was done in compliance with provisions of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets (PPDPA) Act.
Court heard that sometime in February 2021, the hospital sought to buy a 500 EX HT Expandable PABX (Private Automatic Branch Exchange) machine for ZWL$2 498 900. PABXs are switchboards that connect several devices such as telephones, faxes and answering machines with each other and with the public telephone network.
To fast track the process, accused persons, one or both of them, authorised the use of the request for quotations method knowing fully well the value was way above the threshold for that process.
In terms of section 10 (2) of PPDPA regulations, the request for quotations system is used where the procurement value does not exceed US$10 000.
It was further averred that where the price exceeds the prescribed value, section 10 (7) of PPDPA (General) Regulations further provides that competitive bidding shall be used.
In January 2021, before the procurement of the PABX machine, PRAZ introduced circular number 1 of 2021 to guide public procurement during the Covid-19 pandemic knowing that there were emergencies that could render it impractical to follow normal competitive bidding.
State put it that the circular was only to provide further clarity on the buying regulations during the pandemic era, and not in any way to be construed as relaxation of the law.
The guidelines provided clarity on methods of procurement used during the heat of the pandemic and allowed direct procurement and restricted bidding in emergency situations.
Four companies were invited for site visits but only two, namely Mapas World and Destiny Electricals, provided quotations and the former was awarded the contract to supply the equipment.
ZACC investigations revealed that using the official foreign currency exchange rate at that time, as at end of February 2021, the United States dollar equivalent cost of the machine was US$29 788.95.
Further inquiries showed that although the value of machine was way above the threshold for a request for quotations, Mawire and Nkomo, one or both of them, proceeded to use this route without seeking approval or exemption from PRAZ.
The court also heard investigations indicated there was no documentation raised to support that procurement was one of an extreme emergency.
The state alleges Mawire and Nkomo unlawfully, intentionally and knowingly acted contrary to their duties by flouting tender procedures when they offered Mapas World a service level agreement of a value that was above the threshold without approval or exemption from PRAZ, thereby showing favour to Mapas World.
Marceline Mudzongo was prosecuting while Fortune Murisi represented the accused person.
