Story by John Nhandara

Zimbabwe and Zambia are sharing notes on procurement regulations, with the implementation of the electronic government procurement system taking centre stage.

A delegation from Zambia’s parliament committee on delegated legislation which is in the country for an exchange visit, this Thursday met officials from the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe.

“The purpose of our visit is to benchmark or to learn what and how the public procurement of goods and services is done in the country. We would want to share notes on the e-procurement system which is very vital because it inhibits corruption,” said Zambian parliamentary delegation- Chairperson, Hon Remember Chanda Mutale.

The Zambian delegation is also seeking to get an appreciation of the country’s Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act on issues such as domestic preferencing in the procurement value chain.

“We are going to compare some notes on domestic preferencing because as a regulator we support the vision of procurement as an economic enabler. So we need to promote domestic preferencing for example tertiary institutions and women-owned businesses. Then we will also look into issues of electronic government procurement,” noted PRAZ CEO, Mr Clever Ruswa.

Chairperson of Zimbabwe’s Parliamentary Legal Committee Honourable Jonathan Samukange stressed the importance of such exchange visits.

“Last year we went to Zambia and this time they are here to appreciate our procurement system. Such exchange visits are important between our countries,” he said.

This comes hardly a year after a parliamentary delegation from Zambia’s Parliament Committee on Transport, Works and Supply was in the country for an appreciation of the country’s infrastructural development projects.

Early this year, a Namibian parliamentary delegation on the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Security visited the country to engage their Zimbabwean counterparts.