Times Of Swaziland: CONFLICT OF INTEREST IN HOME AFFAIRS TENDER PROBE – MPS

CONFLICT OF INTEREST IN HOME AFFAIRS TENDER PROBE – MPS
================================================================================
Ntombi Mhlongo on 31/03/2022 08:42:00


LOBAMBA – The manner in which the inquiry into the controversial tender
awarded by the Ministry of Home Affairs will be conducted has been questioned by
MPs.
Motshane MP Robert Magongo yesterday sought clarification regarding a
recommendation that was made to the effect that a controversial tender, which
was awarded by the Ministry of Home Affairs, should be investigated. This is the
Design, Development and Implementation of a Modernised Integrated System Tender
No.22 of 2021/2022. It should be noted that in the report of the ministry’s
portfolio committee on the ministry’s annual performance for 2021, it was
noted that there were suspicions that a tendering process was handled
irregularly.
The MP said he heard that the same portfolio committee would be responsible for
conducting the investigation of the tender. Magongo said such news worried him
as it was initially advised that it should not be the portfolio committee that
should conduct the investigation, but instead a select committee should do the
job.
Recommendation
“What is happening now is a conflict of interest because the portfolio
committee is the one that made the recommendation that the tender be
investigated. It cannot then be the one that conducts the investigation,”
Magongo stated. He requested that the Office of the Speaker should comply with
the recommendation that was given by the attorney general (AG) that a select
committee should take over the task. “The investigation is misdirected because
even the Ministry of Home Affairs should not be involved because the issue of
tenders lies with the Ministry of Finance. I request that this issue be sorted
out,” he said.
Deputy Speaker and Mhlangatane MP Madala Mhlanga, who was on the Speaker’s
chair yesterday, requested to address the issue. He said he was doing so in his
capacity as a presiding officer and not as the chairperson of the Ministry of
Home Affairs Portfolio Committee. Mahlanga said if there were irregularities
with the investigation, Magongo should feel free to report, so that it could be
corrected. “A motion can still be moved to order that the decision to give the
responsibility to the portfolio committee be rescinded. I will check with the
Office of the Speaker, especially to ascertain if there was advice given by the
Office of the AG that a select committee should do the job,” said Mhlanga.
Kwaluseni MP Mabhanisi Dlamini also stood up to support Magongo, saying it would
be wrong for the Ministry of Home Affairs Portfolio Committee to probe the
tender.
Overtaken
However, Dlamini was stopped by Mhlanga who said the submission had now been
overtaken by events as he (Mhlanga) had responded to Magongo. Mhlanga also
advised that MPs should cite the Standing Order they were using whenever they
stood up on a point of order. Meanwhile, Nhlambeni MP Manzi Zwane submitted that
he was disappointed as the deputy Speaker had, during the start of the sitting,
informed the House that there were no announcements. It is the procedure that
after leading the MPs in prayer at the start of a sitting, the Speaker, or his
deputy if he is absent, then reads out announcements. Yesterday, Mhlanga, who
was on the Speaker’s chair, informed the MPs that there were no announcements.
MP Zwane said he was disappointed to hear Mhlanga say that. He mentioned that he
expected feedback on a pending issue regarding the Commonwealth Parliamentary
Association (CPA).
According to Zwane, MPs had been promised that they would be given feedback on
some concerns they had regarding the CPA. “We were promised that we will get
answers on when the CPA would meet so I am shocked today that you are saying
there are no announcements. There was also a submission to the effect that there
was something that the Office of the Speaker had not done properly and that we
needed a caucus in order to resolve such issues,” said Zwane. He mentioned
that the Office of the Speaker was supposed to plan for the caucus and give
feedback to the MPs. In response, Mhlanga advised the MPs to always use the
right channels whenever they had concerns. He mentioned that there were bodies
such as sessional committees, which were there to address concerns and provide
clarity to MPs. He said the issue of the caucus lied with the sessional
committee and that the Speaker had no control over that. “The Speaker cannot
just wake up and say today he feels like calling a caucus,” he said.
He also mentioned that there were also Standing Orders in place which allowed
MPs to move motions whenever they did not get satisfactory answers on issues or
clarifications they requested. The statement by Mhlanga seemingly touched
Lobamba Lomdzala MP Marwick Khumalo, who submitted the emphasis on Standing
Orders and procedural practices concerned. Khumalo said since Mhlanga had said
that Parliament was conducted through following procedural practices, he
wondered if such was the true picture.
Opposite
“I wish what you have said is the path we have been using all along. Today we
open and follow the Standing Orders like you say, but tomorrow you will not be
on that seat and we will do the opposite. The practice should not be followed
only when you are on that seat but all the time. It is a good practice but
it’s not what usually happens once the substantive Speaker is here,” said
Khumalo. He mentioned that the wisest thing to do would be for the Speaker and
Mhlanga to sit down and work on the uniform arrangement in the House. “Let us
all be inducted in this kind of practice because right now some members do not
even have the Standing Orders, while others they have but do not come with them.
That is the wrong practice that we have been accustomed to yet what you are
saying is that we need to cite the Standing Orders as it is the correct thing to
do,” submitted Khumalo.