Roads Authority to kick out corruption
Roads Authority (RA) has come out to declare that it will not tolerate any attempts of corruption either by its employees or contractors who seek favours to be given contracts.
RA chief executive officer Trevor Hiwa said in an interview on Friday that following complaints of suspected corruption, the RA had come out to make its position clear on what steps it will take to ensure that the road construction sector is free of corrupt practices.
The RA boss and his team were in Blantyre where they engaged various contractors to find common ground on the sector’s working protocols and how the two parties can improve their relations to avoid false accusations.
He said: “The essence of the engagement was that we want to outline our commitment to work in a very transparent environment. Contractors should also understand that not each and every bidder would win a contract. We have been hearing of accusations that sometimes our staff members were being tempted by bribes in order to award contracts.
“For us this process is supposed to be very transparent and that is why we decided to have a chat with the contractors and go through the process together with them”
Hiwa said every credible suspicion of corruption should be reported to his office, the National Construction Industry Council (NCIC) as the regulatory body including the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
A representative for the contractors, Minnie Somba, said it was important that the RA had come out to clear itself from the suspicions that most contractors had against RA’s staff.
She said: “It is a good development that the RA has come out to engage contractors because this improves our relations as partners. Corruption should not be tolerated within our road construction sector mainly because it leads to substandard work by the contractors.”
