Africa-Press – Namibia. SWAPO vice president and deputy minister of international relations Netumbo-Nandi Ndaitwah has called for fairness in the country’s public procurement system.
Nandi-Ndaitwah was speaking during a staff meeting last week Thursday in Windhoek.
“The year has also been characterised by the much discussed highly questionable health tenders. I am glad that the public’s cry has been heard and that the health tender is being reviewed. One calls for fairness and due diligence to prevail.
“Namibia has enough resources that can be utilised for the well-being of our people. What is required is the right focus and right mind to address the needs of the nation, as opposed to individual interests,” Nandi-Ndaitwah said.
Her views come after the awarding of multi million dollar health tenders to a few individuals by the CPBN.
The multi-billion health tender has attracted public outcry in the past two weeks while some politicians from across the political divide have recommended that the award be cancelled.
Meanwhile, the Central Procurement Board of Namibia (CPBN) has approached pharmaceutical company, Fabupharm, to supply medicine worth N$458 million without public tender.
CPBN spokesperson Johanna Kambala confirmed this to The Namibian yesterday.
Kambala said the board resolved to buy medicine directly from the company in accordance with the procurement laws.
“After satisfying itself with the research findings, the board resolved to remove 38 of the 473 pharmaceutical products manufactured locally from the international bids,” she said.
Kambala said it is based on the confirmation from the Namibia Medical Regulatory Council (NMRC) that there are only two registered pharmaceutical suppliers in Namibia.
These are Fabupharm and Africure Pharmaceutical, which are associates of businessman Shapwa Kanyama.
“According to NMRC, Fabupharm (Pty) Ltd is registered with the council as a manufacturer of pharmaceutical products while Africure Pharmaceutical Namibia (Pty) Ltd only does packaging and not manufacturing,” Kambala said.
Kambala further explained that the tender has not been awarded as it has to go through the tender evaluation process.
According to her, it is not an automatic process even though there was only one bidder.
“The bid must still be evaluated in terms of the criteria set in the standard bidding document. They were approached to submit a quotation for the bid. If they meet the requirement they will be awarded the tender,” she said.
The tender can only be cancelled if they do not meet the requirements.
Fabupharm is owned by Frans Badenhorst and EOS Capital.
EOS is a private equity fund manager that was co-owned by the Bank of Namibia’s governor Johannes !Gawaxab.
!Gawaxab told The Namibian last year that he sold his shares before he was appointed as central bank chief.
“When I joined the Bank of Namibia about two years ago, I sold all my shares in EOS Capital to avoid a conflict of interests and to comply with the requirements of the Bank of Namibia,” he told The Namibian last year.
Gawaxab’s daughter Elzine Mushambi is an independent non-executive board member.
In 2021, the Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) pumped N$7,8 million into Fabupharm through EOS Capital.
The company is also in the race to benefit from the N$5 billion medicine tender that closed in December and is currently under evaluation.
Kambala reiterated that the tender is still under evaluation and has not been awarded.
According to the Fabupharm website, the company produces paracetamol, antibiotics and vitamin supplements among a range of products.
Africure Pharmaceutical Namibia operates a medicine manufacturing plant in Windhoek’s Prosperita industrial area.
According to the company website, its head office is in Mauritius and also operates plants in Cameroon, Botswana and Ivory Coast.
Efforts to get a comment from Fabupharm were not successful.
MORE BACKLASH
Meanwhile, criticism against the N$280 million health tender continues despite the board reassuring the nation it is handling the medical supply tendering process fairly and consistently.
Public outcry erupted after it emerged that the CPBN provisionally awarded a N$280 million contract tender to Amnics Trading (Pty) Limited, which critics said lacked capacity to manufacture condoms and medical gloves.
This is part of a N$2,8 billion batch of tenders for medical supplies to the Ministry of Health and Social Services.
The Landless People’s Movement (LPM) on Friday added its voice to calls for the CPBN to cancel the tender.
The LPM wants the board to set aside its decision to provisionally award the multi-billion dollar medical supply tender, and restart the process.
The party handed over a petition to the CPBN head of administration, Amon Ngavetene.
In the petition, LPM said 30% of tenders should be awarded to enterprises owned by young people.
Former Windhoek mayor Sade Gawanas read the petition when the LPM group marched to the CPBN’s offices.
Gawanas said the tender was “awarded with bias to the economic elite and politically connected”.
“We have noted with great concern continued betrayal and grand corruption, judging from the Fishrot case to the current problems at the CPBN.
“The continued smokescreen to show the international world our policies are fair and just and good is a hypocrisy.”
Ngavetene promised to consider the petition, while pleading with the LPM “to give us time and place hope in us”.
The Swapo politburo has reportedly also asked the government to stop the awarding of controversial health tenders to a clique of briefcase companies.
This call was reportedly made during a politburo meeting last Thursday. However, party secretary general Sophia Shaningwa could not confirm or refute this.
Shaningwa is one of the public figures that have openly called for the tender to “be reviewed… finish and klaar”.
Ngavetene, however, reassured the public that the CPNB is handling the medical supply tendering process fairly and consistently.
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