Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. A FORMER Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital procurement manager has appeared in court to answer criminal abuse of office charges in the ongoing tender saga that has rocked the referral institution.
Ottilia Nkomo was Thursday arraigned before Chinhoyi Magistrate Shepherd Munjanja and was granted US$200 bail, ordered not to interfere with witnesses, reside at her given address, report once a fortnight at Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Chinhoyi, and surrender her passport.
Nkomo was out of the country when Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) investigators were hunting for her contrary to assertions she was on the run, the court heard.
Her arrest upon return and subsequent court appearance came a day after her co-accused, the hospital’s chief executive, Dr Collet John Mawire, was dragged before the same magistrate for allegedly flouting processes for an equipment tender.
Mawire was swooped last Tuesday by ZACC operatives, spent the night in police custody and later appeared before Magistrate Munjanja. He was admitted to US$300 bail, among other stringent reporting conditions.
Both co-accused persons will be back in court November 29 for routine remand.
The complainant in the matter is Benson Share, operations director at the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ).
Mawire, who is the medical superintendent and defacto chief executive officer at the hospital, is first accused person while Nkomo, the former procurement manager is second accused.
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.
The 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 a 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 emergencies.
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 the end of February 2021, the United States dollar equivalent cost of the machine was US$29 788.95.
Further inquiries showed that despite the fact that value of machine was way above the threshold for 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.
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 is prosecuting the matter while Fortune Murisi and Kudzai Choga are representing accused one and two, respectively.
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