The Sunday News
Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
THE media has been challenged to play an active role in promoting citizen engagement in public procurement in order to make the procurement processes impartial, efficient, effective and accountable.
Public procurement refers to the procurement of external resources needed by the Government and the entities under their control, while it can both a catalyst and an inhibitor of service delivery.
Sometime last year, the Parliament had to cancel a controversial laptops and desktop computers tender following an outcry over inflated prices. This came after the adjudication process for the award of the tender for the procurement of laptops and desktop computers was said to be flawed.
Speaking to media practitioners at a Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets training workshop on Friday, Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ) training officer, Mr Eward Masvosva said there was need for the media to help increase procurement literacy rate in the country.
The workshop sought to sensitise the media on the provisions of the reformed Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act (PPDPA) and to also clarify the objectives and provisions of the act.
“The media is an important actor in public procurement. Press coverage of public procurement since the promulgation of the PPDPA Act in 2018 has been increasing. Regrettably the focus of coverage has been mainly on governance failure with very little or no coverage at all of socio-economic policy,” said Mr Masvosva.
He said the socio-economic policies or horizontal objectives that have largely been ignored included supporting SMEs, local manufacturing and women owned businesses among others.
Mr Masvosva said the more the media accentuates the negatives of public procurement and omits positive developments, the end-result was a selective and at times, self-serving media narrative that was likely to engender cynicism towards public procurement.
“As the regulator, we do realise that it is also our role to be more proactive in countering the negativity bias in news coverage of public procurement by showcasing projects where value-for-money has been achieved, services have been successfully delivered and social value has been realised. We cannot play this role alone,” he added.
He said it was generally expected that third-party monitoring of public procurement, especially monitoring by the media and the general citizenry could earn the trust and confidence of the people in Government activities.
Mr Masvosva said the media may act as a catalyst to promote citizens involvement in the public procurement process to hold State entities and the bidding community accountable for their public procurement activities.
“The media plays multiple roles in creating awareness among local people through the dissemination of procurement-related information. Public procurement in Zimbabwe accounts for around 20 to 25 percent of the country’s annual budget, which currently stands at ZWL$4.5 trillion, (US$ 6.9 billion using the official ruling exchange rate of US$ 1: ZWL 646).”
He said the regulator was striving to ensure fair evaluation and that bidders are awarded an equal opportunity to tenders regardless of the size of the entity.
“Bidders must be given equal opportunities, and we are saying everyone must be afforded an opportunity. We are saying it is about capacity and equal opportunities to allow people to participate, we are not saying businesses must just be given tenders but they must be given an opportunity to participate,” he said.
