Cabinet flagged for influencing nominations in public procurement boards – News

The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) says cabinet should not be involved in the appointment of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Central Procurement Board of Namibia (CPBN).

IPPR researcher Frederico Links says the recent CPBN CEO appointment process was embroiled in political interference, undermining the board’s independence in the process

Links was speaking in Windhoek yesterday at the launch of the Namibia 24 order tracker titled: “Data deficit undermines governance and oversight.”

“Given the importance and profile of the entity, strictly speaking, nothing in the law gives the Cabinet the mandate or authority to approve or reject the nomination of CPBN’s CEO,” Links said.

According to Links, for a long time political motivations and interference in senior government appointments have contributed to the weakening of public sector management systems and processes, undermining public trust.

Two months ago, it was reported that Finance and Public Enterprises Minister Iipumbu Shiimi had introduced Idi Itope as his candidate to head CPBN. The cabinet then instructed Shiimi to reconsider his decision amid allegations that top interview scorers were passed over in favor of a candidate who lagged behind.

According to reports, Telecom Namibia Chief Commercial Officer Calvin Muniswaswa, Ministry of Information and Communications Technology Executive Director Audrin Mathe, Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB) Chief Operating Officer Richwell Lukonga and Ministry of Industry and Trade Deputy Executive Director Michael Humavindu also applied for the position.

Additionally, Links recommended that the procurement board should be an independent entity to properly hold people and institutions accountable.

“The Public Procurement Council should not report to the Minister of Finance, this structure makes no sense,” he added.

Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) McHenry Venaani said he supports the IPPR’s recommendation to make the public procurement board an independent entity rather than reporting to the finance minister.

“We have made a number of legislative changes to make the procurement board a semi-autonomous body. In the long run, we need to have a body that has credibility,” Venaani said.

He further said that government interference in the procurement board undermines transparency and accountability because often the companies that receive bids are owned by people who have lobbied among themselves.

He gave the example of the Ministry of Health, which has a strong lobbying base and most of the companies that received these tenders conducted them through lobbying.

Financial spokesman Wilson Shikoto said he could not respond to inquiries sent to him at the time of publication.

According to the Procurement Tracker Namibia 24 report, in April 2024, Namibia participated in a series of meetings under the Methodology for the Assessment of Public Procurement Systems (MAPS).

The assessment found that there are significant information and data gaps in the system that significantly hamper compliance monitoring and management.

The final report from the study is not yet available, but the findings indicate that the government’s e-procurement portal is rudimentary and offers limited opportunities to analyze data and generate insights, making it difficult to make informed decisions.

“The public procurement system faces significant challenges, and a large part of the problem is the lack of accurate data that is not reported outside the system,” Links said.

One of the main reasons why the system is not providing the data it should is that the main data collector, the Procurement Policy Unit, does not have the appropriate capacity and resources to fulfill its functions of monitoring systems and enforcing compliance.

“The Public Procurement Act 2015 was passed 10 years ago, has been in force for seven years, and yet the implementation of the framework and system is still not happening or as it should be,” Links added.

The report recommended that Namibia adopt the Open Data Contracting Standard, which offers a number of benefits in terms of transparency, accountability and efficiency of public procurement processes.

It also provided data available in the e-Procurement Customer System, which indicates that there are approximately 173 public entities performing procurement-related functions, of which only 32 could be displayed until May 23. This represents 19% of the plans for the 2024/25 financial year and was submitted only five out of 33 offices, ministries and agencies.

The most frequently downloaded plans at that time were those of the ministries of agriculture and health.

“The timely submission of annual procurement plans remains a significant compliance issue in public procurement,” the report said.