Kennedy Chokuda: I had ordered the cancellation of the computers tender

Clerk of Parliament Kennedy Chokuda says he had ordered the cancellation of the controversial laptops and desktops tender to Blinart Investments and Mid-End Computers and Hardware which torched a storm a few days ago.

Under the tenders circulated on social media, Parliament quoted about US$9 264.48 per laptop and US$3 076.61 per desktop.

The tender was for 173 laptops and 79 desktops for Parliament.

However, the tender was flagged by the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development George Guvamatanga.

According to Guvamatanga, the prices quoted in US dollars were exorbitantly inflated way beyond the prevailing prices on the market.

He also ordered the cancellation of the tender in line with the Public Finance Management Act [Chapter 22:19].

However, in his response, Kennedy Chokuda who is in charge of Parliament operations raised concern that official documents are being circulated on social media, before pointing out that he had cancelled the tender.

According to Chokuda, the tender was flagged during the due diligence process of Parliament and hence he ordered its cancellation and retendering.

‘’While all the procurement procedures, had been adhered to and cognizant of the need to exercise prudence and probity in all procurement processes, our due diligence processes indicated that the prices were highly inflated.

”It is at this particular point that on Friday 9th August 2022, I as the Accounting Officer, directed the Parliament’s director of procurement unit, in the presence of the director of Audit, to initiate cancellation of the tender and to proceed with retendering as the quoted prices were not justified.

‘’It is in this regard that no contract had been signed with the two suppliers and no payment processes have been activated of the two suppliers.

‘’As an institution of Parliament, we continually review our procurement and procedures and this incident provides an opportunity for us to reflect on our processes to make them tighter and robustly transparent,’’ he said in a press statement dated 17^th of September 2022.

The government in Zimbabwe has reportedly lost a lot of revenue in controversial tenders that have been awarded to little-known or unknown suppliers.

During the Covid-19 period, a lot of briefcase companies got tenders to suppliers’ hospital sundries from the government without following tender procedures. Parliament in Zimbabwe is charged with an oversight role on the public institutions with regards to the use of resources among other things.

Kennedy Chokuda: I had ordered the cancellation of the computers tender