by Grace Chekai
The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development has cleared air on the procurement of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE`s) that was approved to be purchased, stating that Treasury does not make procurement decisions on behalf of any Ministry.
Presenting before a Public Accounts Parliamentary Committee yesterday, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, George Guvamatanga said, “There is no way as Treasury that we can make a procurement decision. So all the processes, the due diligence, the checking is done at the current Ministry. When it comes to Treasury, our role is to check for our ability and capacity to pay.”
Guvamatanga said the Ministry of Finance had a debt keeping responsibility which is in line with the Public Finance Act.
“We will also do a value for money assessment because we do have a debt keeping responsibility which as Parliament you have pledged on us through the Public Finance Management Act,” he said.
Guvamatanga added, “If the Ministry of Finance is certain that the transaction or the deal is detrimental to Government, we then highlight and raise the issue with the parent Ministry.”
He said that the issues being raised by the media was incorrect.
“And I would want to reassure the house under the oath that I have taken that we have performed our debt keeping responsibilities as expected. Most of the issues that are raised in the media are incorrect because Treasury, through its own processes, had already highlighted concerns and in some of those contracts, suspended some of them and in some instances cancelled them,” said the Minister.
Guvamatanga said some of the noise that was currently being heard was about contracts which are non-existent because in performing the debt keeping responsibility, Treasury had already taken the right steps in making sure that it protects the Government’s taste by highlighting some of the anomalies which include overpricing on some of the contracts, poor due diligence and failure to follow procedures.
Last week, the media was awash with false allegations that were meant to soil the reputation of the First Family. Government detractors were associating one of the First Family`s son, Collins Mnangagwa, with an organization called Drax International.
The company is alleged to have been given a US$60 million tender to supply PPEs by the Ministry of Health and Child Care without following due process.
However, Collins Mnangagwa disassociated himself with the company in a statement saying that the media was spreading falsehoods and should have sought clarity from him concerning the matter.
