Blatant in its law-breaking, a fuel procurement process is underway in the government system.
The procurement has sidestepped Mera [Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority], PPDA [Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority] and Ministry of Energy — three entities which, according to provisions of the law, should have been central to this procurement as regulators and facilitators.
On the other hand, National Oil Company of Malawi (Nocma) seems to be dazzled in the lights of the chaos, and therefore reduced to no more than taking directives from those in charge of the operation – Minister of Transport and Public Works, Jacob Hara who is working together with Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Colleen Zamba.
We called Hara. He responded only to some of our questions. We called Zamba four times. She did not pick out calls. Nocma failed to respond to the questions we sent to them. Mera, PPDA and Minister of Energy Ibrahim Matola have spoken.
Summary of the details
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According to letters exchanged between September 4 and 6, 2024 and earlier, in this procurement, Ministry of Transport is purchasing 40,000 metric tonnes of diesel and petrol from a firm known as G.E.T Global.
The details show that G.E.T Global is not the one to supply the fuel as such. It will use other companies to sell fuel to the ministry through Nocma. G.E.T will source it from Trafigura.
The fuel is supposed to come through Beira, Mozambique.
In the deal, Nocma is the confirmed agent appointed by Hara.
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However, G.E.T Global delays the supply, attributing to Trafigura’s demand for full payment of the product before they release the fuel.
The money is paid, according to G.E.T’s own confirmation in a letter dated September 6.
Nocma the agent
For this deal, Hara “appointed” Nocma as the agent to handle all matters related to this fuel consignment.
This is contained in the minister’s letter of August 27, 2024, to Nocma.
Among the responsibilities which Hara charged Nocma with include that the oil company would collect and remit all payments to a firm known as OptiCoin Malawi’s Standard Bank account in Lilongwe.
Our checks at both Registrar of Companies and Malawi Revenue Authority show a company of similar name was registered in July 2023. Its directors are Clement Kamwangala and Stefan Grobler, a South African.
Zamba in the picture
Hara addressed his Nocma letter to Zamba, not to Nocma CEO, Clement Kanyama. Zamba is board chair for the oil company.
In her response, Zamba assured Hara in a letter of August 28, 2024 that Nocma would carry out the tasks “effectively and efficiently”.
And she directed “CEO Nocma to expedite urgently”, endorsing Hara’s directive with her signature and the date of August 26, 2024, although Hara’s letter whose contents Zamba was approving was dated August 27.
The illegalities
Within the corridors of Nocma, the deal is unsettling to some.
Sources within the organisation have described this deal as flagrant in its breach of the laws of procurement and on its encroachment of the mandate of other public entities.
First, it undermines all the country’s public procurement processes, according to one of the sources.
“It is a big anomaly that the procurement entity, in this case Ministry of Transport and Public Works, did not take this through PPDA,” said a source.
Secondly, they said, Nocma has no contract whatsoever with GET Global, hence cannot be asked to make payment without any obligations.
In addition, Section 7 of the Liquid Fuels and Gas Production and Supply Act gives powers to the Minister of Energy in relation to fuel supply matters but not anything related to the procurement of fuel. In effect, Hara is in contravention of the law, they say.
It is partly on this basis that in August 2021, the Anti- Corruption Bureau arrested the then Minister of Energy Newton Kambala alongside others in relation to a fuel contract.
They are answering the offence of conspiracy to influence a public officer to abuse office [through awarding a fuel supply contract to a fuel company of their choice] contrary to provisions of the Corrupt Practices Act.
The Nocma sources said the deal raises further questions because Trafigura is not even party to any of the agreements and yet it is the one G.E.T is getting the product from and, therefore, one to be paid.
Contract disowned
When contacted about this deal, Minister of Energy Ibrahim Matola said he was outside the country attending meetings.
We sent him a screenshot of one of the documents of the deal with a question: “Are you aware of this deal?”
He responded: “Where did you get it from?”
“A source,” we said.
Matola did not say anything else afterwards and did not pick our follow-up calls.
We also picked up the issue with Mera. Its spokesperson Fitina Khonje said this contract did not go through the regulatory body.
“The Ministry of Transport made an inquiry on the process to be followed if an institution would [want to] apply for an import licence. Mera provided the guidance.
“Mera has not received any details pertaining to the said procurement from G.E.T Global, as neither Nocma.
“And there is no application from the Ministry of Transport on the licence issue they requested details and guidance on,” she told us.
PPDA also denied having any knowledge of the contract, with its spokesperson Kate Kujaliwa directing us back to Hara for explanation.
“Thank you for your inquiry regarding the procurement of fuel from G.E.T by the Ministry of Transport and Public Works. As per the information provided, the letter in question, addressed to the Nocma Board, was not communicated to the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA).
“Therefore, the Authority is unable to comment on this matter as it is outside its purview.
“For further clarification, the Authority recommends directing your queries to the Ministry of Transport regarding how the supplier was identified,” Kujaliwa stated.
What does Hara say?
In the first contact last week, Hara refused to answer our questions directly, stating:
“This fuel is for a particular project that I will soon be shedding light on. I spoke about it during my interview on ‘Times Exclusive’. There is nothing sinister here. Go to that interview and get all the details.”
He suggested we are being used by saboteurs.
“I know there are some enemies of progress trying to sabotage this project by deliberately giving out misinformation. Don’t get used by such. Don’t allow to used.”
Days later, we went back to Hara.
This was our message to him: “I went to watch the interview. I haven’t found anything relatable to the questionnaire. I’m giving you the opportunity to clarify matters before we publish in a day’s time. You can do that by responding to the questions we sent you and other points you deem fit.”
To which Hara responded by asking that we call him.
During the phone call, Hara kept referring us to the Times Exclusive Interview, further saying, now upset, “Who is feeding you with this information…?
“Go and listen to that interview, if you don’t want to, then write what you want….I am not afraid.”
After toning down, the minister went to explain as follows: “We are working on a national development programme and at this moment, I am not ready to divulge any information about it. When it’s ready I am going to give you.”
He did not respond to our question as to who owns OptiCoin, the company he directed Nocma to be depositing money into. It is also not clear what its role in this deal is.
In the said Times Exclusive Interview in November 2023, Hara said he went to Dubai to check availability of fuel but he did not mention any company.
Nocma dodges our questions
When contacted about this deal, Nocma’s Chief Executive Officer Clement Kanyama requested for a questionnaire.
We told him the company’s Public Relations Officer Raymond Likambale had it as we had sent it to him first. Kanyama said he would remind Likambale about it.
There was no response as we went to press last evening.
But we have it on good authority that management at Nocma has also launched a crackdown on employees at the institution, seeking to flush out the informers of this deal and shut down any further whistleblowing.
We are also aware of one officer who management handed over to police last week on suspicion of leaking documents exposing this deal.
