PPDA stops ‘go ahead’ on Orton mausoleum

The Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA) has withdrawn a No Objection it granted the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Wildlife to build a K1.4 billion mausoleum for Orton Chirwa.

PPDA spokesperson Grace Thipa confirmed that the No Objection they granted was withdrawn on March 10 2022 after discovering that internal clearance processes had been inadvertently omitted at the time it was issued.

President Lazarus Chakwera ordered the construction of a modern mausoleum for Malawi Congress Party founder when he went to Nkhata Bay on March 3 for Martyr’s Day celebrations.

Few days after his order, the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Wildlife flighted the advertisement for the construction of the mausoleum at K1 401 128 524.

In the advertisement, the ministry said it intended to award the contract to Hema Construction Limited and Central Construction Group in a joint venture, and PPDA proceeded to issue the No Objection.

However, the ministry’s prompt action to award the contract and the issuing of the No Objection raised eyebrows and stirred debate on the social media platforms.

Thipa said as indicated in the letter, internal clearance processes were inadvertently omitted when issuing the No Objection.

She explained: “It was, therefore, necessary to withdraw the No Objection and subject the submission to the proper approval processes.

“Submissions by procuring and disposing entities for prior review by the PPDA can either be approved by the director general or the PPDA board depending on set thresholds. The director general approves submissions with a maximum value of K1 billion in procurement for works.

“All submissions above the K1 billion threshold of the director general are subject to further review and approval by the board. In this case, a letter of No Objection was inadvertently issued before the board approved the procurement.”

She dismissed assertions that the ‘No Objection’ was withdrawn due to public outcry on the quoted amount of the procurement.

Thipa said the PPDA exercises the mandate of prior review of submissions based on documents submitted and assessment of such submissions is based on the PPDA Act and procedures provided in the Public Procurement Regulations.

“As important as the views of the general public are, it’s important that the decisions of the members of the board, as public officers, must be made on only legally relevant and verifiable information before it. To do otherwise would be to go outside their lawful mandate,” she said.

The submission awaits Anti-Corruption Bureau’s (ACB) clearance after PPDA board approval, according to the PPDA spokesperson.

Thipa explained: “The submission was considered by the PPDA board after the No Objection was withdrawn. Several issues were raised which required response from

 the procuring and disposing  entity (PDE). After the PDE clarified the issues raised, the board approved the submission which was subject to further scrutiny by the ACB.

“The ACB makes an independent assessment of the submission. The ACB gets its mandate from Section 37 of the PPDA Act. In this case, ACB has raised several issues which require further clarification by the PDE. As such, a decision on a submission is a consolidated position of the PPDA and ACB.”

She further said PPDA does not make procurement decisions, but oversees the procurement processes done by PDEs and ensures that these are done in accordance with the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Act.

Thipa said Section 32 of the Act mandates PDEs to keep records of procurement processes.

She added: “Any party aggrieved by a procurement decision has an opportunity to request review of the decision by lodging a complaint with a controlling officer of a PDE, the PPDA or an independent review committee.

“Decisions of the committees are subject to further appeal by the High Court. In any case, members of the general public can request for release of information by the PPDA under the Access to Information Act which information shall be provided by the PPDA unless it falls under the exceptions under that law or any other written law.”