By John Saukira
BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-College of Medicine a constituent college of the university of Malawi in August 2019, awarded a MK9 Million Government funded contract to a Consultant film to facilitate a six day Retreat for all Heads of Department in Mangochi, it has been revealed.
The consultant has a firm called Life to the full Consulting, she is Dr Mary Mkandawire wife to Dean of Medicine at College of medicine.
We are reliably informed that the College paid her a whooping K9 Million as her fees for that 6day Retreat at Nkopola Sunbird Hotels.
We can also speak with confidence that College of Medicine paid her accommodation and meals allowances as well.
Initially this type of procurement was supposed to be done by the Procurement Unit as a procedure where it was supposed to be advertised in the newspaper as Individual Consultancy through open tendering or to seek waiver as a matter of procedure but all that never took place.
SIDE OF THE LAW
According to Public procurement and disposal of assets act which president Peter Mutharika signed on 18 August, 2017, and later gazette on 22 August, 2017, talks about disclosure of interest which was not done by those connected to the University.
Chapter 22 of the act says . ( I) Where any member of the Authority, a committee of the
interest Authority, any employee of the Authority, any public official or member of an Internal Procurement and Disposal Committee has any direct or indirect pecuniary interest in relation to any matter before the Authority, any of its committees, or the procuring and
disposing entity, he shall Post engagement restrictions Immunity of members and employees of
the Authority ( a) disclose at or before the meeting convened to discuss that
matter, the nature of his interest; and (b) not take part in any deliberation or any decision-making
process in relation to that matter. (2) A disclosure of interest made under this section shall be recorded in the minutes of the meeting of the Authority, or a committee as the case may be. (3) A person who fails to disclose an interest as required under this section commits an offence and shall, upon conviction, be liable to a fine of K 1,000, 000 and to imprisonment for five years.”
OTHER RELATED LAWS NOT FOLLOWED
The University did not follow Section 40 of the PPDA act. This act encourages all public institution to publicise for invitation for bids. Other processes not followed included failure to issue bidding document, bid opening, bid evaluation,
THEIR SIDE OF THE STORY
When contacted Portipher Chirambo who is acting Registrar, confirmed that the university issued a contract to Dr Mary Mkandawire a wife to the dean of medicine Dr Mkandawire.
“It is true that the College engage a firm by the name of “Life to the Full Consulting”.
But the company is not owned by our member of staff. It is owned by the wife of our member of staff. The husband was not involved at any level in the entire process of engaging the Firm.
“The process of engaging the firm involved Management with guidance and recommendations from Professor Moodie of University of Melbourne. Professor Moodie had been facilitating these leadership retreats on 3 occasions as part of his University’s contribution to building leadership capacity at COM,” responded in an email.
According to the acting registrar, the college engaged this firm following guidance and recommendations from Professor Moodie who was not available at this time as he was back in Australia.
“As Prof Moodie works with Dr Mary Mkandawire on other leadership trainings, he recommended her firm to deliver what he thought was good for the COM as it would supplement what he had been facilitating in the leadership retreats of previous years.
Prof Moodie was a professor in our college for over three years. COM has an MOU with University of Melbourne in Australia and one of the MOU’s objective is the building of leadership capacity at COM”
Asked on why did the College award the contract without following set procurement guidelines as read in the Procurement act, Chirambo acknowledged the flaws but with some explanations.
“This is true that we did not follow the procedure of advertising nor seeking a “no objection for single sourcing” as is required by the PPDA – “Procurement Act”.
In retrospect we agree on our error of judgement. The error partly arose due to the fact that Dr Mary Mkandawire of Life to the Full firm was identified and recommended by the College Partner Professor after assessing the needs of the College.
The College indeed should have sought a “no objection for single sourcing from PPDA.”
