THE Central Procurement Board of Namibia (CPBN) is currently evaluating another state contract estimated at over N$5 billion to supply the Ministry of Health and Social Services with medicine.
This tender is separate from the controversial contracts worth N$2,8 billion, which were awarded two weeks ago and dominated by businessman Shapwa Kanyama and his close associates.
Amid the ongoing public outcry over the alleged inflated tenders awarded by the procurement board on 11 January, another key battle for state contracts is unfolding around another tender which is already being linked to alleged rigging.
The tender, titled ‘supply and delivery of pharmaceutical products’ was advertised in September 2022 and application for bids closed in December.
Tender board documents show that 26 companies submitted bids to supply medicine to the health ministry.
CPBN spokesperson Johanna Kambala says the government is still evaluating the N$5 billion tender.
“The bid evaluation committee is still busy finalising the evaluation. Hence no further details can be issued regarding this bid,” she says.
The CPBN, led by Amon Ngavetene as chairperson, has been faced with strong criticism for awarding tenders to politically connected individuals without carrying out basic due diligence, such as verifying bidders’ information.
Some of the big companies in the race to win the tender include Erongomed Health Distributors, which has submitted a bid of around N$5,7 billion.
Erongomed Health Distributors is linked to Kanyama.
Another big-shot company in the race for this tender is Nampharm, which submitted a N$4 billion bid.
Nampharm, which is said to employ 180 full-time staff members, was one of the biggest losers in the last round of tenders awarded two weeks ago by the central procurement board.
The board awarded Nampharm deals to supply medical products worth N$1,6 million.
Former City of Windhoek chief executive officer Martin Shipanga’s company, Shipanga Medical Services, was given tenders worth N$1,4 million to supply medical products.
Tender documents show his company submitted tenders worth N$1,6 billion.
Taliindje Investment CC, which won a N$141 million deal two weeks ago, is also in the race for the latest tenders to supply medicine, with bids worth N$68 million.
Econo Investments (Pty) Ltd, owned by lawyer Rodgers Kauta, submitted bids of around N$934 million.
THE SCRAMBLE
Other companies which submitted bids to provide the government with medicine include Salutem Medicals (N$9,7 billion), Afripharm Investments (N$3 billion), Oshakati Pharmacy CC t/a Medex Pharma (N$3,8 billion), Geka Pharma (Pty) Ltd (N$3 billion), and Pharmacare trading as WAP Medical Supplies (N$2,2 billion).
Also in the race for the tenders are Corances Investment (Pty) joint venture with Transpharm (N$1,7 billion), Supremo Pharmaceuticals (N$1,7 million), Cospharm Investments (N$1,5 billion), Mozart Medical Supplies (N$1,4 billion), Broad Pharma (N$1,3 billion), Genmed (N$1,1 billion) and Cospharm Investments (N$1,5 billion).
Additionally, Element Medical Suppliers (N$787 million), Innova Healthcare Distributors and Warehouse (N$737 million), Landulamed Wholesaler and Distributors CC (N$700 million), Windhoek Medical Solutions (N$670 million), Care Marque Pharma CC (N$527 million) and Africure Pharmaceutical Namibia N$536 million are also competing, as well as Pfizer Laboratories (N$152 million), Hoodia Pharma (N$47,1 million), Fabupharam (N$63 million), and Ciron Drugs and Pharmaceuticals (N$54 million).
DEALS QUESTIONED
The health ministry has been a hotbed for questionable tenders over the years, and medical store contracts could be another battleground.
Sources say the CPBN held a meeting last week to decide on the winners of the tenders to supply medicine to the government.
These latest tenders bring to the fore the ongoing debate on whether the government should use middlemen companies to buy medicine or buy directly from manufacturers.
To some, middlemen companies are needed in the system as they deliver goods faster compared to the government, which could be affected by distribution bureaucracies.
They are also said to support the system as an empowerment vehicle to involve previously disadvantaged Namibians.
Others, however, believe the government should contact manufacturers directly to cut out middlemen to buy medication.
One of the proponents of eliminating middlemen in tenders is former health minister Bernard Haufiku.
He spoke out against briefcase companies which inflate prices on medical contracts.
“It is due to ‘tenderpreneurs’ who want to drive Range Rovers and live large by putting huge mark-ups on the products,” he said seven years ago.
Haufiku sounded the alarm when he realised the government was being overcharged for medicine.
“The way we have been buying antiretroviral medicine has been unbelievably inflated up to three times. Also, consumable supplies were superinflated, and these are things that have been happening at the head office.
“It is not in the periphery or regions, and that further reduced the actual budget that needs to permeate to the periphery to the ordinary Namibian citizen for medical services,” he told New Era in 2017.
President Hage Geingob fired Haufiku in 2018, around the same time health tenders were being evaluated.
He was replaced by Kalumbi Shangula as the new health minister.
Shangula and Ben Nangombe then started working together.
Nangombe, who previously worked at State House, was appointed as executive director of health and social services in July 2018.
The government has made U-turns on medical tenders before, including a contract to buy vaccines in 2020, but the issue of middlemen in the tender system has remained untouched over the years.
