The firm Amalgamated Motor Corporation (AMC), owned by the chairman of ZANU-PF (governing party) for the Mashonaland region, Ray Kaukonde, has made some good deals in supplying top of the range import vehicles to various government institutions. Kaukonde has used his influence in ZANU-PF and the government (he is close to Solomon Mujuru, the husband of Vice President Joyce Mujuru) to win contracts.
Some of these contacts have been paid by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), which itself received a around twenty Mitsubishi Colt cars for its directors as well as Mitsubishi Prado and Mercedes Benz for its top officials, including the governor Gideon Gono and his three deputies.
Kaukonde also has a contract for the exclusive supply of these makes of car to members of the government. The Peugeot 706 attributed to deputy ministers were hence supplied by Kaukonde. Furthermore, the latter has obtained an agreement to supply the 66 members of the Zimbabwe Senate with small Madza Eagle twin cab trucks, assembled locally by the firm Willowvale Mazda Motor Industries. Half of the sums received by AMC for this contract will be paid in foreign currency, officially in order to enable him to buy spare parts abroad needed for the assembly of the vehicles.
A former officer in the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), Kaukonde has won several of these contracts without going through a call for tenders procedure.
INDIAN OCEAN LETTER - 27.05.2006
NOTA:
- Assim vai a África...
Fernando Gil
MACUA DE MOÇAMBIQUE
