Mwenifumbo proposal for 60% of govt contracts to Malawians passes in parliament
Government will now be forced to award 60 per cent of all its contracts and other related business to indigenous black Malawians following a successful amendment on Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets amended by Karonga Central MP Frank Mwenifumbo.
The new amendment was passed with other amendments of the Act aimed at curbing corruption in the awarding of contracts and prevention of a repeat of another cashgate, the looting of government finances and resources.
“Provided that a procurig entity shall ensure prioritization of all bids submitted to give preference to sixty per cent indigenous black Malawians and forty percent others for national competitive bidding,” reads the amendment provided by Mwenifumbo.
In an interview with Nyasa Times after the controversial amendment passed through parliament, Mweifumbo said Malawians had no economic independence and this controibutedd to slow economic development.
“Small and medium enterprises are economic engines for growth. That is why I proposed that 60 percent of government contracts should go to Malawians,” he said.
Another amendment is the curtailing of powers of the President in the appointment of the director of the office of public procurement.
Chairman of Budget and Finance committee Rhino Chiphiko said this was one of the best legislation parliament has ever passed.
“The ACB (graft busting body Anti-Corruption Bureau) will now be involved in early stages of procurement before a no objection is issued on single sourcing contracts,” he said.
The bill was passed after a long and protracted committee stage.
Mike Mlombwa, chairman of ABAM, a black empowerment movement welcomed the new Act and thanked Mwenifumbo and others for the amendments.
“We have been asking for this for long, thank God, finally we have what we had been asking for,” he said.
Activist and writer Emily Mkamanga said the passing of the amendments to the Act means the country is moving in the right direction.
The passing of the amendments however did not go without controversy as the government side in parliament did not participate in the voice vote.
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Bola a Malawiwo azilhala ndi zowayenereza
Y talk abt roads tenders all tenders to b given to Malawians that’s 60%
And rgds to giving to ministers etc… the ACB and also PAC should b involved
Bravo Malawi
Look at what the Malawian contractors have done recently with the city and town road net work projects . Is this what we want to promote or we just want the contractors to make money for themselves leaving the rest of Malawians with poor infrastructure?
We need to understand that the problem with poor jobs is not the contractors but the institutions responsible for for ensuring that the contracts are carried out to agreed upon standards. WHERE ARE THEY AND WHAT ARE THEY DOING? THEY MUST BE TAKEN TO TASK.
Before you start celebrating: have you considred how the govt is going will track the 60%, over what period and which jobs. Nothing has changed!!
Oh my God! Now all roads will have a life span shorter than that of a fly!
Not if established monitoring and supervision I nstituitions will do their jobs uncorrupted!
60% awarded to MPs and ministers. What about the other businessmen and women?
THOSE WHO DO NOT KNOW SHEEP IN WOLVES SKIN, TRY KUYENDA NAYE YOU WILL KNOW HIM BETTER. BUT THE WORSE IS YET TO COME WITH THIS AMENDEMENT REST BE ASSURED AFTER CLAPPING YOUR HANDS GUYS. WE ARE IN TROUBLE WORSE THAN CASHGATE, REMEMBER THE CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES THAT MUSHROOMED DURING THE ERA OF BAKILI MULUZI, LIKE CORREIA CONSTRUCTION ETC WHERE ARE THEY AND THE OWNERS? WHERE ARE THE MILLIONAIRES WHO USED TO TOUT THEMSELVES IN PARLIAMENT THEN NOW? REMEMBER HOW THEY ACCUMULATED WEALTH DURING MULUZI AND IN WHAT STATE ARE THEY NOW/ DZUKA MALAWI DZUKA
Weldone BWANA MWENIFUMBO, alot of money was going out of the country hence this country is not developing, now it is up to us Malawians to produce quality products basi.
my MP karonga central u r realy a malawian, u were born in malawi, u will die in malawi. Continue fighting for malawians. Enawa akupanga zinthu ngati ndi alendo kkkkkkkkkkkk
I disagree to the amendment made, uyu wa ku malawi FARGO walephera ndipo anathawa nsewu wa highway Mu Limbe from Ilovo to Court round about. in the Name of promoting malawians Tipereka very important projects kwa akambele mbele. why is the society is quite pamene ndalama zadyedwa pa limbe pompa. where are you investigative journalists who resides in Bangwe and chigumula who pass through that road every day?
second thing 90% of companies which were involved in cash gate are and were owned by the so called Malawians , a clear indication that we cannot offer quality products.
I disagree to the amendment made, uyu wa ku malawi FARGO walephera ndipo anathawa nsewu wa highway Mu Limbe from Ilovo to Court round about. in the Name of promoting malawians Tipereka very important projects kwa akambele mbele. why is the society is quite pamene ndalama zadyedwa pa limbe pompa. where are you investigative journalists who resides in Bangwe and chigumula who pass through that road every day?
second thing 90% of companies which were involved in cash gate are and were owned by the so called Malawians , a clear indication that we cannot offer quality products.
Mwazolowera ma 10% kickback inu from foreign companies. Musova
A road contract is an admeasurement contract which means a contractor is paid for the work done on the ground, thats why they have advertised for another contractor to complete the work, thats how it goes in civil projects
You are right Ngwenyama. Doubts linger on as to what would be the quality of the roads. RSA President Jacob Zuma will at an opportune time say something once again about roads in Malawi.
However, I can foresee Pakistanis, Lebanese or Indians sending local Malawians to register a company purporting to show that it belongs to indigenous Malawians. As long as they give kickbacks, they will be given contracts. ODPP is somehow weak with its “NO OBJECTION” issue whose application is not well explained. It creates weakness within the award of tenders. There is collusive bidding going on in the construction industry whereby contractors or suppliers in a particular trade or area cooperate to defeat the competitive bidding process in order to inflate prices to artificially high levels. It occurs in large and small contracts. With corruption swirling around in Malawi, collusive bidding is well established such that prices can rise substantially, in some cases by as much as several 100%. Government officials and procurement personnel under their direction sponsor or facilitate the collusion in exchange for bribes, and part of the corrupt payments often end up in the coffers of local politicians where they are used to offset campaign and other expenses.
Collusion occurs in these sectors: road construction, repair and maintenance; pharmaceutical supplies; major building construction; major IT projects; and office supplies. During the MCP regime there was the Central Tender Board. It awarded contracts on merit to companies that had the capacity to carry them out. Most did quality work. There was Roberts Construction which was involved in the construction of the Great Hall at Chancellor College; W & C French; Nell Tier which was involved in the construction of Kamuzu International Airport; SR Nicholas, still around and many others.
Now we must be challenged to improve on quality. As Malawians, we must be ashamed of poor standard roads. Zithu zakabwere mawa in the name of promoting Malawian businesses will kill our nation.
Ndiponso 60% yachepa, ikanakhala at least 75%
Welcome development. The question now is :which black Malawians? Hopefully these will not be mainly those from Thyolo, Mulanje and Phalombe.
This is good news but let us have capacity building of the black Malawians to ensure they have the capacity to deliver – without which we may end up with delivery of sub-standards works/services.
This is tricky. I do not think there is anywhere in the Bid where the race, or country of origin of the company is indicated. Hence, it would mean that to determine whether this is an indigenous Malawian, the owner of the business need to meet the procurement personnel and confirm his status. This is where corruption starts. At the same time, the pricing mechanisms of my fellow Malawians is very unacceptable and the quality of services, in most cases, very poor. Lets blacklist all those local firms who fail to meet the required standards.
Do your best mwenefumbo to your fellow malawian I THANKS for your I dea
Uyu ndi wanzeru….So you mean the government side samaifuna amendment iyi nde wat do they want?
Mwenifumbo MP wanzeru! He makes very progressive suggestions in parliament! Kudos Hon FTM and hoping to make more of such great suggestions with our AFORD reclaiming its old glory
Bwana Mwenifumbo i salute you