Mozambique: CIP warns of “high risks” of corruption in direct awards

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Mozambique: CIP warns of “high risks” of corruption in direct awards

1:39 CAT | 18 Aug 2020

File photo: Lusa

The Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), a Mozambican non-governmental organization (NGO), yesterday said that the direct award of public works contracts and the acquisition of goods and services by the state presents a risk of corruption and misuse of funds.

“With direct awarding, a type of contracting applied in the current [pandemic] context, there are serious risks of over-invoicing, of conflicts of interest, and of influence peddling in public procurement,” a statement from CIP reads.

According to a document that the head of state, Filipe Nyusi, submitted to parliament at the end of the first four months of a state of emergency in Mozambique, the country spent 68 billion meticais (€805 million) with contractors, suppliers of goods and service providers “resorting to the direct awarding modality”, as one of the “most flexible and swift” measures in the face of the pandemic.

For CIP, that type of contracting entails “high risks” of corruption in public procurement, in addition to risking becoming “very costly” to the state.

“Corruption in procurement in social sectors such as health can severely weaken the Government’s capacity to respond to Covid-19 in the country and put human lives, especially women and children, at risk, thus violating human rights,” the statement adds.

Data from audits made of purchases by the Ministry of Health in 2017 indicate that products purchased through direct awards by the sector are up to 90% more expensive than the reference price in the international market, the NGO said.

In the education sector, the plan to return to face-to-face classes includes the construction and rehabilitation of water supply and sanitation systems in more than 600 schools across the country.

“Despite the need for these works for the safe return to face-to-face classes, opting for direct awarding may contribute to the lack of quality in the works, since the risk of corruption is high,” the NGO stresses, adding that the emergency context is “favourable to the diversion and misuse of funds due, in part, to the relaxation of inspection and monitoring mechanisms”.

CIP recommended public tenders whenever there is no emergency, arguing that this model “guarantees greater transparency”.

Source: Carta de Moçambique