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| Business |
| Govt extends SGS contract |
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by
Ephraim Munthali, 12 March 2003
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Government has extended the Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS) pre-shipment inspection contract by four months pending a decision to choose the successful bidder, Finance Minister Friday Jumbe disclosed in an interview on Monday.
Jumbe said his ministry had “underestimated the task of appointing an inspection firm” and only realised the miscalculation after experiencing bureaucracies involved in the process.
“The process has been delayed by bureaucracies, as such we have decided to extend the [SGS] contract by three to four months to give us ample time to hire the best firm,” said Jumbe.
He said the two visits by the International Monetary Fund (IMF)—in December last year and in January this year—also affected the process because it got a lion’s share of the time of the officers involved in processing the contract.
In addition, said Jumbe, Christmas holidays left the ministry with inadequate staff to carry out the task.
He, however, said the uncertainty surrounding the contract will not affect the operation of the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA), a beneficiary of the pre-shipment inspection services SGS has been providing for seven years now.
Jumbe said the extension, starting from April 1, does not necessarily mean that is the period it will take government to announce the preferred bidder, saying the deal will be sealed by mid April.
The contract has been characterised by allegations of corruption with suspicions of top government officials receiving huge sums of money and other gratification to influence the outcome.
Government has, through Jumbe, denied this, arguing that the process is too involving for anyone to influence a decision.
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