…. Some senators believe his response was spot on
BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg has promised senators that the Mkhondvo-Ngwavuma Water Augmentation Project (MNWAP) and Mpakeni Dam will be transparent.
Rijkenberg said this yesterday (May 6, 2024) during the meeting he had with senators, who are members of the Ministry of Finance Portfolio Committee when they went through the clause-by-clause session of the E2 084 290 000 African Development Bank (AfDB) Phase 1B Loan Bill No.3 of 2024. This took place at the Senate Chamber in Parliament.
The minister pleaded with the senators not to get into the finer details on how the money was going to be used because this would be inconsistent with the tendering process. He said if he was to give documents with the finer details to the senators, this could result in the documents being leaked and those interested in submitting tenders to Government for this project could have access to such information. Such a situation, according to the minister, could end up in violation of procurement laws.
The minister explained that the tendering process would be jeopardised in a manner that everyone would know exactly what the government was expecting to pay for every single item that would be procured because the document contains high-level numbers in terms of what sort of procurement and how much government would pay for each item. For that reason, Rijkenberg said the moment they made it available it could compromise the tender process.
Rijkenberg said the team at EWADE was working on the project and the senators had nothing to worry about. He said EWADE’s track record when implementing projects was at 90 percent. Therefore, transparency in this project was guaranteed. Senators wanted the finer details because they wanted to make sure there was no misappropriation of funds during the project. However, Senate President Lindiwe Dlamini understood the explanation from the minister, saying the situation was tricky and the sharing of the documents with finer details could be dangerous.
Meanwhile, senators who spoke to this publication on condition of anonymous said the Minister’s responses were understandable right and spot on. The senators argued that if the Minister released the detailed report, it would definitely end up in wrong hands.
“We know that some of us have businesses and we are related to potential tenderers who want to do business with the project. It will be therefore risky for the minister to share the document,” said a senator
