Last week, we reported about a brazenly law-breaking fuel procurement deal that is being controlled by Minister of Transport, Jacob Hara, and Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Colleen Zamba – and not institutions that are mandated by law to handle fuel procurement. Now pressure is building up on them to face investigations
By Cathy Maulidi:
Calls are rising for Minister of Transport, Jacob Hara, and Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Colleen Zamba, to face investigations for hijacking a fuel procurement process.
Their actions could suggest “corruption, fraud, theft, and abuse of power”, commentators say.
Last week we exposed how Zamba and Hara have elbowed out Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera), Ministry of Energy and Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA) in the procurement of 40,000 metric tonnes of fuel.
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In the procurement, the National Oil Company of Malawi (Nocma) has been reduced to an errand boy, receiving instructions from Hara and Zamba.
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Mera, Ministry of Energy and PPDA told Malawi News last week that they are not involved in the procurement.
This week, Nocma came out with a press briefing during which it dismissed claims of irregularities in the deal, however glaring these are in the documents that are available.
But chairperson for the Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) Gift Trapence said Hara and Zamba need to clear themselves in public.
He has demanded “thorough investigation of the matter”.
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“We call upon the investigating bodies to take up this matter. Malawians deserve to know what is happening as this involves their resources.
“The Minister of Transport and the SPC must come in the open and respond to questions that people have. We demand transparency in all fuel deals,” Trapence said.
And in a statement made available to Malawi News, the Centre for Social Accountability and Transparency (Csat) has questioned the involvement of Hara and Zamba in the procurement.
Csat says it “strongly believes” that the actions by Hara and Zamba were intended to defraud the people of Malawi.
In the statement signed its Executive Director Willy Kambwandira, the organisation has called on President Lazarus Chakwera to take a “swift and decisive action” on this matter.
“We demand all public officers involved in this to step aside to facilitate for an independent investigation,” reads the statement.
Csat adds that Parliament has a crucial role to play in ensuring accountability and transparency in this matter by summoning those involved and demand explanations.
“Csat asserts that these allegations involve corruption, fraud, theft, and abuse of power and therefore we also call upon the Anti-Corruption Bureau to thoroughly investigate this matter.
“The ACB’s silence on this does not only undermine public confidence in the bureau but also raises serious questions about its independence,” reads the statement in part.
Among the letters exposing the deal is one which Hara wrote to Nocma on August 27, 2024.
In the letter, Hara directs Nocma to, among other things, to be his ministry’s agent and to collect sales and remit all payments related to this deal to the Standard Bank account of some firm known as OptiCoin Malawi whose involvement in this procurement is not clear.
Zamba endorses the letter directing Nocma CEO to act “urgently.”
And in a letter dated August 28, Zamba, who is Nocma board chair, assures Hara that his instructions will be carried “efficiently and effectively.”
The documents show that fuel is to be accessed through a firm known as G.E.T Global.
According to letters exchanged between September 4 and 6, 2024, 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.
We are aware that Ministry of Transport does not have a licence to procure fuel.
However, in its letter of Wednesday September 4 2024 to Hara, G.E.T Global indicates that it has already sourced the fuel from its partner, Trafigura.
It further indicates that the fuel is in tank in Beira, Mozambique ready for verification which Nocma is supposed to do, as directed by Hara.
“We have sourced the first emergency consignment from our partners Trafigura, Mozambique in Beira to meet the urgent request, who are well known to your appointed agent, Nocma.
“The fuel verification for the emergency consignment will be made through Trafigura. Product is currently in tank in Beira, Mozambique – at PetroBeira and Lakeoil Storage Facilities,” reads the G.E.T Global letter signed by its director, Roy Miller.
On September 11, a train arrived at Marka in Nsanje from Beira carrying 1.2 million petroleum products. President Chakwera presided over the historical arrival of the train, the first of its kind in 41 years. We have not established whether this is the fuel G.E.T Global is referring to.
The procurement has come under scrutiny within the ranks of Nocma for its brazen breach of the laws.
According to sources at Nocma, the deal undermines all the country’s 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,” one source told us last week.
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.
Secondly, Nocma has no contract whatsoever with G.E.T Global and cannot therefore be asked to make payment without any obligations.
The 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 Global is getting the product from and, therefore, one to be paid.
Zamba was unavailable for comment last week but Hara defended himself although he did not address directly some of our critical questions.
He said this fuel is for a particular project that he will announce soon.
“There is nothing sinister here,” he said, admitting he has travelled of United Arab Emirates at some point to negotiate the deal.
“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 be used,” he said.
