MINISTERS, PSS, USS PERPETRATORS OF CORRUPTION - MOI MOI

LOBAMBA – Ministers, principal secretaries (PSs)and under secretaries (USs) are the main culprits of corruption in the country as alleged by Senator Philemon Moi Moi Masilela.

The three are the highest ranking officers, respectively, in each ministry and they are responsible for signing documents that give the green light for procurement of items to be utilised by the ministry, among other things. The senator said it was through that process that these government officials were contributing to corruption as they normally approved the procurement documents without actually questioning the pricing from the procuring entities. This was during the Ministry of Education and Training Portfolio Committee’s debate of the ministry’s first quarter report for the financial year 2022/2023.

tendency

Masilela said government had been turned into a cash cow by the procurement entities as they had a tendency of overcharging government and the signing officials never questioned the exaggerated prices. He made an example that a pen cost a mere E5 but government purchased it at E300 through the tendering system. “You can check with the Accountant General’s Office and you will observe that the procurement documents are signed by the minister, PS and the US. However, none of them ever question the prices of the items procured, even though they notice that government has been overcharged. These are the culprits of corruption in the country,” he said. Education Minister Lady Mabuza could not respond to the accusations made by the senator at the time as she requested to have responses tabled in writing. It should be noted that government, through the Eswatini Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (ESPPRA), is working on putting a stop to the issue of overpricing by procuring entities as it is on the verge of introducing what is termed the e-Catalogue.

procured

This is a resource providing information about products online and through this method, government will have an average price for certain procured items like office furniture, petroleum products, among other items. It will entail that procuring entities give prices that are not far from the ones suggested by ESPPRA and that will be one of the requirements of the regulatory authority when evaluating tenders. Meanwhile, violence, lack of security and strikes were a great concern at the University of Eswatini (UNESWA). Multiple senators raised these as issues that were disturbing the operations of the highest learning institution in the country and they urged the ministry to work on them.

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