By A Correspondent- The Chief Executive of the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ), Mr Nyasha Chizu, was on Tuesday sent on leave amid serious procurement violations in the country.

The leave came a day after he appeared before the Parliament’s Committee on the Budget, Finance and Economic Development where he indicated:

• some entities had not complied with procurement guidelines issued by the authority in March when the Covid-19 pandemic was declared a national disaster.
• PRAZ did not oversee all procurement of goods and services by Government departments to combat Covid-19
• some State entities had not submitted monthly procurement reports since the beginning of the lockdown.
• some had centralised their procurement processes instead of decentralising them.

Chizu said some cases had been referred to the Zimbabwe Anti Corruption Commission (Zacc) for further investigation.

Chizu also told Parliament that the authority is no longer responsible for awarding tenders, but issues general procurement guidelines, review processes and evaluates decisions made by procuring entities.

The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development is the authority now responsible for the final money for value assessment before it will approve payments.

Observers use recent procurement scandals to cement the argument that the authority, like its predecessor, is an appendage for political elites.

-statemedia