Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA) director general Eddington Chilapondwa has said the PPDA Act of 2025, which repeals that of 2017, does not allow his agency to oversee Government-to-Government (G2G) procurement processes.
He made the remarks yesterday in Mzuzu where PPDA trained various procurement staff from government departments on the new law.
Chilapondwa said in an interview that it was improper for the PPDA to regulate G2G procurement arrangements.
He said: “It was not proper to regulate bilateral agreement terms between governments because some of the G2G terms are not based on our public procurement principles.”
The PPDA chief argued that it was difficult for internal procurement and disposal committees (IPDCs) to approve G2G procurement arrangements as it seemed to be out of their mandate.
“G2G arrangements will now be regulated by other existing laws such as bilateral terms agreed between governments and not those under PPDA,” he stated.
On his part, Mzuzu Central Hospital IPDC chairperson Arnold Kaira welcomed the new development.
“Procurement of various goods and services between governments will now be faster and efficient because there will be direct contact between these two entities,” said Kayira.
However, governance observer Moses Mkandawire said there should still be provisions to allow PPDA to facilitate G2G procurement deals.
“This development fastens procurement process, but it can create more loopholes for corruption without PPDA regulation,” he said.
