Parliament staff accused of flouting procurement laws

Kampala. A whistle-blower has sent a new petition to the Inspectorate of Government, claiming that the tender for a new chamber of Parliament was inflated and called for fresh investigations into the accusations of corruption in the deal.
In a September 21 petition, a whistle-blower claims that there was collusion between some parliamentary staff and one contractor to lock out other bidders.
“…this handy relationship has spread to staff who have either been misled or ‘brought into the picture’ to work for some bidders while disadvantaging others by fronting all sorts of reasons,” the petition reads in part.

“Incidentally the accounting officer, the procurement unit and the contracts committee may not be aware of this scheme although this is squarely their responsibility,” it adds.
This, the whistle-blower claims, indicates the Clerk to Parliament and the House’s Procurement and Contracts Committee had failed in their responsibilities as per sections 26, 31 and 28 of the PPDA Act.
However, the Clerk to Parliament, Ms Jane Kibirige, yesterday said that she had not seen the petition.
Ms Munira Ali, the spokesperson of the inspectorate, confirmed that they received the petition.

“We have received the complaint. But if is related to procurement. As a matter of policy, we shall refer it to PPDA,” Ms Ali said in telephone interview.
The whistle-blower alleges that Parliament overlooked the [preferred] bidder’s competence, capacity, resources and experience.
Instead, it lowered the requirements in order to accommodate a less qualified company.
In late July, the PPDA said the process should be done afresh, saying the members of the evaluation committee should be independent of the consultant.

This seems not to have been heeded. At the beginning of the month, a concerned citizen petitioned the inspectorate, challenging the membership of the review committee.
The concerned citizen claimed that the three–member committee of consultants was composed of the same individuals who were on the first panel that was found culpable by the PPDA.
Mr Caleb Tugumusirize, a civil engineer, Mr Timothy Mugabi, an electrical engineer, and Mr Charles Mpabwe, a quantity surveyor, were the members in question.
Instead of addressing the PPDA’s concerns, the whistleblower claims Parliament resorted to unfounded allegations to eliminate some of the companies that bid.

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