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Sittas NO to issues under probe
2009-02-05 11:00:19
By Lusekelo Philemon, Dodoma
2009-02-05 11:00:19
By Lusekelo Philemon, Dodoma
National Assembly Speaker Samwel Sitta yesterday barred Members of Parliament from discussing issues related to the Radar purchase and National Identity Cards project scandals.
Sitta announced the decision after Ole MP, Bakar Shamis Faki posed a supplementary question to the Finance and Economic Affairs deputy minister Jeremiah Sumari, on whether the implementation of the two projects followed the Public Procurement Act procedures.
The Speaker stood up and told the house that the two issues were under investigation, hence it wouldn`t be fair for the National Assembly to discuss them.
``These two issues are under investigation. It is not proper to discuss them here. Let`s leave the responsible organs to work on them,`` he said.
Responding to the basic question, Sumari said the government was looking into the possibilities of improving the procurement system.
He also said the government would soon make amendments on the legal issues related to the procurement system so as to give the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) teeth.
``This will give PPRA a mandate to punish those who go against the public procurement Act,`` he said.
Minister Sumari also underscored the need to have e-procurement in government departments, saying the move would improve services offered by PPRA.
He said presently many government departments were not connected to the e-procurement system, which links them with PPRA as well as business people in the Private Sector.
In his basic question MP Faki had wanted to know the
government position on improving procurement system in the country.
Meanwhile, Sitta said it is strictly prohibited for chairpersons of the Parliamentary committees to reveal issues discussed in the committee chambers to the press.
He issued the directive after the question and answer session yesterday, saying there was a growing tendency for leaders and members of those committees to reveal details of the discussed issues to media practitioners.
Sitta said the move preempts the National Assembly as the issues were supposed to be first tabled in Parliament before being made public.
``There are some MPs who have a tendency of briefing media people on what transpired in their chambers. This is contrary to parliamentary standing orders. I ask them to stop doing so,`` he said.
His statement comes at a time when Home Affairs Minister Lawrence Masha is meeting the Parliamentary Committee on Defense and Foreign Affairs, over the multi-billion shilling national ID cards project.
Media was not allowed into the committee meeting hearing the controversy surrounding the USD 152m national identity cards project.
Last week, Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda confirmed that he was aware of the controversy.
He however called for patience on the part of MPs while the project`s tender process continues.
According to Pinda, one major weakness in the tendering process was the unexplained loss of documents from folio number 47 at the Ministry of Home Affairs, which contains important information on the project.
This, he said, had resulted in much of the information being leaked.
Reliable sources have intimated that differences have recently come to the fore between Masha and State House Chief Secretary Philemon Luhanjo over the way the tender process is being handled.
Initially, the home affairs ministerial tender board had sought to float a restricted tender, but the government ordered the tender process to be made public to avoid loopholes for corruption and other wrongdoings.
It has now come to light that Masha last year complained formally to premier Pinda that Chief Secretary Luhanjo instructed the permanent secretary in the home affairs ministry to report directly to the Cabinet on the implementation of the tender process, without informing him (Masha) as minister.
It is understood that the minister`s argument was that he would be the one forced to shoulder political responsibility should anything go wrong within the ministry.
The chief secretary, who operates from State House, is secretary to the Cabinet and responsible for ensuring that all important government decisions are implemented.
According to our sources, Masha also told Pinda that he had received complaints from one of the bidders for the tender, Sagem Securite, and summoned the home affairs PS to Dodoma last November for discussions on the matter.
A total of 54 companies initially submitted bids for the tender to supply the ID cards.A special government evaluation committee then picked 21 of the bidders for the pre-qualification stage.
Out of these, 16 bidders were found to be `substantially responsive,` while five bidders were given `conditional pre-qualification.`
The tender board later came up with a shortlist of eight companies, excluding Sagem Securite, out of those recommended by the evaluation committee.
SOURCE: Guardian