HARARE A government report has accused permanent secretaries of corruption, demanding kickbacks and bribes from contractors, a situation that it said had led to delays in implementation of some public projects and development programmes.The report on Public Private Partnerships (PPP) for Economic Development in Zimbabwe released last Wednesday said in some cases permanent secretaries, who are the chief executive officers of ministries, were also too bureaucratic which had frustrated potential investors.
“Senior civil servants, in particular, permanent secretaries were also identified as sometimes acting impediments to the implementation of projects as they tended to be too bureaucratic and did not process projects on time,” said the 112-page report.
In addition, some permanent secretaries and senior government officials had vested interests in potential private investors which led to corrupt bidding, tendering and in some cases manipulation of tender results, according to the report.
It said: “There is a problem of public sector individuals or institutions having vested interests in potential private partners. This leads to corrupt bidding and tendering, manipulation of results and poor performance of PPP projects because the premise is based on the greed of the partner to benefit financially rather than develop and run the project well.
Other potential investors frustrated by bureaucratic delays or senior public officials demanding kickbacks have taken their funds elsewhere, according to the report.
It mentions a project by a top hotel and tourism operator to build a US$1 billon hotel at Victoria Falls several years ago which was in the end moved to Livingstone on the Zambian side because Zimbabwean officials delayed granting the company permission to implement the project.
“For example, a potential US$1 billion investment by Southern Sun in a Hotel at Victoria Falls ended up being lost to Livingstone, Zambia due to delays in the processing of the project by Zimbabwean authorities,” the report said.
The report is likely to re-ignite debate on the suitability of some permanent secretaries to hold their jobs.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his deputy Arthur Mutambara had pushed for the top officials to be relived of their posts and only re-hired after vetting by all the three political parties in the unity government.
New blood was also going to be introduced into the government bureaucracy, with the two MDC formations forwarding their members for appointment as permanent secretaries.
However Tsvangirai and Mutambara relented on their demands apparently after President Robert Mugabe refused to dismiss the current crop of permanent secretaries he unilaterally re-appointed without consulting his coalition partners as is required under the power-sharing agreement that gave birth to the unity government.
Post published in: News