TIRI MASAWI
The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has raised concerns over proposed changes to the Public Procurement Bill that would give ministers greater power to exempt projects deemed important, urgent, or economically beneficial.
The 2025 proposed Public Procurement Bill seeks to replace the current law, which has been in existence since 2015.
The government says at this stage, these are merely proposals but the IPPR warns that such exemptions are susceptible to abuse and corruption. The local think tank said such proposals are a threat not only to the integrity of the public procurement system as a whole, but also to effective service delivery and public trust in government.
“The looming widespread use of exemptions to by-pass competitive bidding processes is primarily politically driven, as the Swapo Party Manifesto Implementation Plan (SMIP) calls for what effectively amounts to the overuse of exemptions to achieve the envisaged outcomes articulated in the developmental framework of the Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s administration for the period to 2030,” IPPR said in their latest Procurement Tracker for the month of October.
According to the Swapo Manifesto Implementation Plan such exemptions are meant for the speedy approval of the appointment of the project professional team and contractors to work in the implementation phase.
The IPPR said that the political prioritising of the ministerial exemption will greatly compromise transparency and trust on the public procurement system in Namibia.
“The issue of ministerial exemptions relates not only to the implementation of the SMIP. It is also topical against the backdrop of healthcare related procurement through the Namibian health ministry, which is now looking to use non-competitive or indirect procurement methods to purchase pharmaceutical, medicinal and clinical supplies directly from manufacturers under the guise of emergency procurement,” IPPR said.
The IPPR said the use of the ministerial exemption would also have bearing on procurement processes and transactions.
“In practical terms, both the use of ministerial exemptions and emergency procurement effectively amount to specific procurement purchases or contracting bypassing both competitive bidding and established bid adjudication processes, in other words bypassing normal, fair processes and best practices,” the report said,
IPPR said such methods rely overwhelmingly on discretionary decision-making about which suppliers or consultants to approach and contract directly to provide goods or services. .
IPPR said parts of the Public Procurement Amendment Bill allows for any public entity to apply to be exempted from the provisions of the proposed law.
Section 6 of the Bill would empower the finance minister with broad discretionary powers to make public procurement policy, including around the issuing of exemptions.
“In terms of procurements related to the SMIP, this would mean that various government departments would be enabled to directly contract probably hundreds, if not thousands, of SMEs or other local entities and even individuals, or even communities,to supply goods or services over several years, up to 2030, without having to call for and adjudicate bids openly and fairly,” the IPPR said.
The IPPR added that, “On the face of it this would appear to be clearly in the public interest. The SMIP frames the use of ministerial exemptions to get “swift approval” of purchases or services as critical to the success of the overall ramped up service delivery ambitions of the entire plan.”
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