SMEs hail entities using 60/40 law
Small and Medium Businesses Association (SMB) has commended some government departments, ministries and agencies for complying with the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Order 2020.
The SMEs Order demands entities to reserve space for SMEs to supply goods and services to the government and its agencies.
Section 44 (10) of the PPDA Act provides that 60 percent of government procurements should be given to indigenous Malawians with the remaining 40 percent being given to foreigner business people.
CSMB Executive Secretary James Chiutsi said some parastatals and government agencies have started complying with the law.
Chiutsi singled out the Central Medical Stores Trust and the Malawi Electoral Commission (Mec) as some of the institutions.
“The good news is that the number of government agencies that are complying with the SMEs Order is growing,” he said.
He however lamented that some still do not understand requirements under the law or are ignoring the order.
Chiutsi then asked the Ministry of Trade to start producing the colour coded certificates, as stipulated in the order, to allow applications for the coded certificates to be processed in the absence of the Tax Clearance Certificate.
He also advised government agencies to emulate the buying and disposal entities in the government to start implementing the order.
Implementation of the order comes amid growing public concerns that SMEs were unable to do business with the government due to stiff competition from big players which monopolised almost all sectors of the economy.
