Mwenye getting sticks at Ministry of Health for her procurement discipline

Battle lines have been drawn in the civil service as government wants Ministry of Health and Population chief procurement officer Roslyn Kamtambe Mwenye out for turning down demands from others to bend procurement rules in favour of some bidders.

Mwenye is said not to be bowing down to the demands of some forces to get procurement favoured to preferred bidders.

Ministry of Health is handling many procurement bids with National Cancer Centre project and the purchase of ambulances.

Government is deploying William Ismael Lapukeni who is Chief Procurement Officer in the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Irrigation to the Ministry of Health to be deputy director of procurement.

This will mean Lapukeni will be in charge of procurement and that Mwenye will be reporting to the deputy director.

Sources in the ministry said Mwenye is being overshadowed now because she is propagating procurement discipline.

She has taken a bold step to preserve procurement bidding integrity when the conduct of some bidders leaves a lot to be desired.

Recently, Youth and Society (YAS), a civil society organisation (CSO), took  to task Ministry of Health Principal Secretary Dan Namarika and 11 other officials over the flouting of the law prohibiting employees of a procuring and disposing public entity from bidding for its auctioned assets.

Namalika and other officials bought cars from their ministry in a public auction which Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe described as illegal.

The law particularly emphasises that all disposal proceedings should be conducted in a manner which promotes transparency, accountability and fairness, according to Section 38, which also provides alternative ways of disposing assets.