Probe recommends action against New Era COO

A PwC Namibia forensic report has laid bare the alleged questionable conduct of New Era Publication Corporation (NEPC) chief operating officer Kavezemburuka ‘Sieggie’ Veii-Mujoro over procurement irregularities at the government news corporation.

The incidents relate to a contract entered into with Infinity Logistics for the distribution of the New Era newspaper, a five-year contract entered into with a Windhoek-based sales vendor, the repair of an NEPC vehicle, the appointment of 8710 Investment Solutions for website development and email hosting services and fumigation services conducted at the NEPC offices, among others, the report noted.

PwC recommended, already in June, that NEPC institute a disciplinary hearing into Veii-Mujoro’s conduct.

Last December, he was suspended after the board instituted an investigation into how a newspaper distribution tender, worth over N$300 000 monthly, was awarded without following public procurement procedures. He returned to work in July.

In its forensic investigation, PwC found that Veii-Mujoro made adjustments to the newspaper distribution contract entered into with Infinity Logistics, incurring extra costs on the part of the company, without authorisation.

The law dictates that only CEOs of public enterprises may enter into external agreements on behalf of such entities.

Distribution contract amended

“The Infinity Logistics contract, for the distribution of newspapers, was not advertised or procured in accordance with the Public Procurement Act guidelines and regulations. Although the CEO signed the memorandum of agreement (MoA) with Infinity on 3 September 2020, which commenced on 1 October 2020, there were two subsequent addendums (new routes added to the MoA) signed by the chief operating officer (COO) as representative of NEPC, which is not in line with the Public Procurement Act,” PwC noted.

In the second instance, Veii-Mujoro entered into a new agreement with a street newspaper vendor despite that vendor owing the company over N$400 000 at the time.

“The COO was aware of the outstanding debt of the street vendor; however, this was not addressed in the service level agreement (SLA) which had a term period of four years.

Previous or other similar SLAs with street vendors were noted to have only been for one-year periods,” PwC said.

Procurement processes ignored

Further, the probe found that quotations for a distribution system were sourced without following the corporation’s procurement procedures.

“These services were sourced by the COO during the period when he was the acting CEO of NEPC,” PwC said.

“When a purchase order was issued on 17 August 2020, there was no signed SLA in place for website development and website hosting services,” the report added.

Quotations not sourced

Veii-Mujoro also contracted a company to do fumigation of NEPC’s offices without sourcing competing quotations for the services.

“The fumigation done at NEPC during 2020 and 2021 were actioned by the COO in obtaining quotations and arranging for the payment of services as part of emergency procurement. He did not consider other cheaper quotations from potential alternative service providers,” PwC said.

The procurement of the fumigation services potentially placed NEPC at risk of incurring financial losses, it added.

Another red flag was payment for repairs to a NEPC vehicle, it said.

“The quotation from Tjizu Bros was accepted and signed off by the COO and a 50% deposit paid for repairs of a vehicle still not repaired, potentially resulting in payment made for services not rendered to NEPC and potential financial losses,” the auditing firm said.

Institute disciplinary hearings

In its recommendations, PwC said NEPC should institute a disciplinary hearing against Veii-Mujoro, pending legal advice.

“We recommend that you, after consultation with your legal representatives and acting solely on their advice, consider instituting disciplinary proceedings against employees who were involved in mentioned procurement matters.”

The firm said it was convinced Veii-Mujoro had been party to procurement process that were not in line with the Public Procurement Act, and were not in accordance with internal processes at the company.

In the dark

When approached for comment, Veii-Mujoro said he had not seen the report, noting that it would be unfair for him to comment on its findings.

“I have no clue about the report. All I can tell you is that I was questioned by PwC and I’ve asked for the report from the chairperson; I don’t know what the outcome of the report is,” he said.

“The right of reply is not fair because I have not seen it. If you can ask me on specifics, I could tell you my version,” he said.

Meanwhile, NEPC board chairperson John Sifani refused to discuss the report findings when asked whether it followed through with PwC’s recommendations.

“I’m not aware of the report. Where did you get the report?” he asked.