Judiciary wants N$1.9m worth of cellphones and other gadgets

MATHIAS HAUFIKU



WINDHOEK

The Office of the Judiciary says its decision to budget N$1.85 million to procure communication gadgets and mobile services for its top brass is above board and within the scope of the permissible laws.

The Office of the Judiciary provides cell phones, airtime and data, for the judicial officers, management and staff members in critical positions.

The figures are contained in the quarterly procurement report of the judiciary for the period June to July 2020.

The Office of the Judiciary employs 724 employees, comprising 22 judges, 91 magistrates and 611 staff members.

The executive director in the office, Rolanda Van Wyk, yesterday in a detailed response said the office must provide for the necessary budgetary provision for handsets just like any other public institution.

“Kindly be further be advised that the Office did not procure handsets, i.e., cellular phones or any devices. The Office however entered into a subscription contract with MTC where cellular phones/iPads/tablets, data as well as airtime comes as a package of the subscription contract. The amount of N$375 828, 00 is a quarterly expense of the subscription usage,” she explained.

This was for the period between June 2020 to August 2020.

Phone bill

Based on the quarterly figures presented by Van Wyk, the office’s annual bill to keep its officials connected is just over N$1.5 million.

She also explained the office procures directly from MTC instead of putting it out on public tender, adding that MTC is a public entity and therefore “it was also not required of us to follow a competitive process”.

She said the N$1,85 million was an annual budgetary provision intended for the payment of monthly subscription fees for services provided to the office by MTC.

“Please take note that such services were acquired through the direct procurement method as prescribed for in Section 36 (2) (b) of the Public Procurement Act, 2015, as this subscription contract has been in existence before the establishment of the Office of the Judiciary when the courts were still part of the Ministry of Justice,” Van Wyk said, adding that it was not practical for the procurement of this service to go on public tender.

She said the office has a telecommunication service agreement with MTC for the provision of subscription packages that includes handsets, air time, data and monthly subscription fees.

Government regulations states that a cellular phone handset would be sold to interested staff members at 50% depreciation, after a 24 months contract lapses on the Smart Office Box package.