Logistical challenges delay MDAs funding
Finance Minister Felix Mlusu has attributed delays to fund ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to logistical challenges.
Mlusu was speaking when he visited Malawi Institute of Procurement and Supply (Mips) offices to appreciate the reform areas the institute requires to foster its work.
Mlusu said government has the money to finance all the MDAs but sometimes the funds delay because of logistical challenges.
“We are using a new system and the some MDAs have not mastered the way requests for funds are supposed to be made to be processed by the system. When the requests are not made properly, they are rejected and the office requesting the funds has to make corrections,” he said.
On Mips, Mlusu said the institute was key in sanitising the country’s procurement processes where, he conceded, a lot of government money is being lost due to miss-procurements.
He said the country should come to a point where no procurement officer should operate without being registered with Mips.
“Mips is where people are helped to be professional. When they are registered, at least they will be controlled and disciplined in times of miss-procurements. In future, there is, need for procurement professionals to attach their registration numbers for their bids to be successful but at least we should start with sensitisation,” he said.
Mipps Board Chairperson David Ng’onamo said it is difficult for the institute to control and discipline procurement professionals who are not registered with them in times of miss-procurement.
He said the institute has about 900 procurement professional registered with it but there are thousands of others who are not registered.
“When we register them, we give them a copy of professional code of ethics which they follow. If the ethics are not followed, there are measures which are taken to address the situation and that are why the Mips Act was enacted,” he said.
