Chipata City Council has suspended a procurement officer for 30 days on charges of fraudulent behaviour and non-compliance with the established procurement procedures.
The named procurement officer is alleged to have breached procurement procedure in the purchase process of a grader and compactor under the 2022 Constituency Development Fund (CDF) for Chipata City.
The equipment is valued at over K3.5 Million.
According to details obtained by Diamond News, the procurement process was marred with irregularities in which the procurement officer failed to advertise the procurement contrary to section 59 of the procurement Act No-8 of 2020.
Documents seen indicate that quotations were solicited from the bidders without attachments of engineering specifications making it difficult for other bidders to compete fairly.
In addition, two bids were allegedly only written after the deadline had expired.
When given chance for exculpation, the officer expressed ignorance of the law in some charges and also argued that verbal warning was not given on the alleged offence.
Chipata City Council Town Clerk Aaron Kamalondo who was contacted on the matter says staff matters cannot be discussed in the public.
Chipata City has deplorable road network hence the decision to procure earth moving equipment to help quickly work on the roads using the Constituency Development Fund CDF which have been increased to K25.7 million from k1.6 Miillion.