Rumblings over de-bushing tender
The director of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Paulus Noa, says the body is still considering whether to investigate how a joint venture was given the tender for de-bushing at Katima Farm and the Liselo irrigation project in the Zambezi Region.
A formal complaint was made to the ACC which alleged that the tender was awarded to the MK Capital Investment/Okatombo Investment joint venture despite the fact that neither of these entities was an SME, which purportedly was a requisite condition of the tender award.
Neither of the companies had submitted an SME certificate with their applications.
However, after perusing the tender documents, Noa on Monday said there was no SME requirement. He said the ACC was not yet clear whether a full investigation would be launched because there had not been any complaint of corruption.
Mathias Kanana Kamati and Leonard Nangolo Iipumbu are members or shareholders of MK Capital and Okatombo respectively.
Kamati was adamant that MK Capital and his joint-venture partner were registered as SMEs and that all relevant certificates were submitted with the tender applications.
MK Capital is listed as an SME on the website of the Construction Industries Federation (CIF). Okatombo is not listed on that site.
Sub-subcontracting
The manner in which the tender was passed on to other subcontractors has, however, raised eyebrows.
The tender was advertised around the middle of last year. The Tender Bulletin then observed that only 14 of the 47 applicants were builders or plant contractors and that the only Chinese contractor was tax non-compliant.
The Tender Bulletin reported that the notice for the tender restricted participation to entities with 51% Namibian ownership, of which 30% was to be from previously disadvantaged groups. Others would automatically be disqualified.
The tender notice further stipulated that preference would be given to tenderers who offered market-related prices and to Namibian corporations or nationals. The bids ranged from N$4.8 million to a whopping N$441.7 million. The MK Capital Investment and Okatombo Investment joint venture tendered for N$26.3 million.
The work consisted mainly of bush clearing and deep ripping and mechanical levelling of irrigation fields.
The joint venture had indicated that KK Target Trading, a registered SME, would act as subcontractor on the job.
However, a few months after the tender was awarded in October, Uundenge Investments CC owned by Laban Kandume emerged as the subcontractor.
Uundenge Investments had not applied for the tender to begin with, but in January it had entered as the “main contractor” into a “farm trees sale agreement” with the Chinese company New Force Logistics CC owned by the alleged wildlife and timber trafficker Hou Xue Cheng, presumably for the de-bushing of the Katima Farm and Liselo irrigation scheme.
An expert in government's tendering procedures, who preferred anonymity, observed that this type of “sub-subcontracting” was questionable and highly irregular. This expert also mentioned that it sounded “very fishy” for Uundenge to have presented itself as the “main contractor” on the job.
This expert suggested that the ACC should probably investigate the tender itself, the contract signed with the agriculture ministry, as well as the “strange agreement” between Uundenge and New Force Logistics.
Kamati said only a portion of the overall scope of the de-bushing tender had been subcontracted to Uundenge.
“Only the removal of the trees was subcontracted to Uundenge,” said Kamati.
He did not say anything about the involvement of New Force Logistic.
Noa said the fact that Uundenge presented itself as the main contractor on the job and the subcontracting, or sub-subcontracting, of this job were not subject to an ACC investigation because no formal complaint had been made in this regard.
CATHERINE SASMAN
A formal complaint was made to the ACC which alleged that the tender was awarded to the MK Capital Investment/Okatombo Investment joint venture despite the fact that neither of these entities was an SME, which purportedly was a requisite condition of the tender award.
Neither of the companies had submitted an SME certificate with their applications.
However, after perusing the tender documents, Noa on Monday said there was no SME requirement. He said the ACC was not yet clear whether a full investigation would be launched because there had not been any complaint of corruption.
Mathias Kanana Kamati and Leonard Nangolo Iipumbu are members or shareholders of MK Capital and Okatombo respectively.
Kamati was adamant that MK Capital and his joint-venture partner were registered as SMEs and that all relevant certificates were submitted with the tender applications.
MK Capital is listed as an SME on the website of the Construction Industries Federation (CIF). Okatombo is not listed on that site.
Sub-subcontracting
The manner in which the tender was passed on to other subcontractors has, however, raised eyebrows.
The tender was advertised around the middle of last year. The Tender Bulletin then observed that only 14 of the 47 applicants were builders or plant contractors and that the only Chinese contractor was tax non-compliant.
The Tender Bulletin reported that the notice for the tender restricted participation to entities with 51% Namibian ownership, of which 30% was to be from previously disadvantaged groups. Others would automatically be disqualified.
The tender notice further stipulated that preference would be given to tenderers who offered market-related prices and to Namibian corporations or nationals. The bids ranged from N$4.8 million to a whopping N$441.7 million. The MK Capital Investment and Okatombo Investment joint venture tendered for N$26.3 million.
The work consisted mainly of bush clearing and deep ripping and mechanical levelling of irrigation fields.
The joint venture had indicated that KK Target Trading, a registered SME, would act as subcontractor on the job.
However, a few months after the tender was awarded in October, Uundenge Investments CC owned by Laban Kandume emerged as the subcontractor.
Uundenge Investments had not applied for the tender to begin with, but in January it had entered as the “main contractor” into a “farm trees sale agreement” with the Chinese company New Force Logistics CC owned by the alleged wildlife and timber trafficker Hou Xue Cheng, presumably for the de-bushing of the Katima Farm and Liselo irrigation scheme.
An expert in government's tendering procedures, who preferred anonymity, observed that this type of “sub-subcontracting” was questionable and highly irregular. This expert also mentioned that it sounded “very fishy” for Uundenge to have presented itself as the “main contractor” on the job.
This expert suggested that the ACC should probably investigate the tender itself, the contract signed with the agriculture ministry, as well as the “strange agreement” between Uundenge and New Force Logistics.
Kamati said only a portion of the overall scope of the de-bushing tender had been subcontracted to Uundenge.
“Only the removal of the trees was subcontracted to Uundenge,” said Kamati.
He did not say anything about the involvement of New Force Logistic.
Noa said the fact that Uundenge presented itself as the main contractor on the job and the subcontracting, or sub-subcontracting, of this job were not subject to an ACC investigation because no formal complaint had been made in this regard.
CATHERINE SASMAN
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