Medical tenders over priced by 300% – Haufiku

Former health minister Bernard Haufiku says medical supplies sold to the government during his tenure were overpriced by as much as 300%, raising suspicions of corruption and irregularities in the health ministry’s tender process.

This comes after the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) confirmed to The Namibian yesterday that it has an ongoing case related to medicine procurement at the Ministry of Health and Social Services dating back to 2019. It also comes at a time when former health executive director Ben Nangombe, who was in charge of the administrative arm of the health ministry for seven years, has been demoted to the Office of the Prime Minister.

The Namibian understands that Nangombe could be one of the officials under the scope of the probe, including his oversight role in tenders. However, he denied knowledge of an investigation into him and the confiscation of his passport by authorities when approached for comment yesterday.

“The answer to that question is no,” he said.

Businessman Shapwa Kanyama, a key beneficiary of health tenders over the years, yesterday denied speculation that his passport was confiscated.

“I am not aware of any of this. Do you know that I have my passport? Unless you guys want to sell your paper by featuring me. I have my passport with me and whatever people are saying on social media is not true,” he said.

Questions over the issue of tenders have been ongoing for years.

Haufiku, who was at the helm of the ministry since 2015, provided context to his concerns during an interview with Desert FM yesterday.

He said he began noticing suspicious procurement patterns whenever he travelled outside the country, with certain purchases seemingly rushed through in his absence.

“When I was minister, I detected some purchases of items in a way that shouldn’t have been the case. One observation I made was that items were overpriced, in some instances by as much as 300%. That’s what alerted me,” he said.

He added: “I noticed that all this was happening whenever I travelled out of the country, so it seems that there was a gap of these businesses that didn’t seem to be above board, that is what alerted me.

“The problems by the time were deeper than the eyes could see. I could only believe that at least these matters were looked into and hopefully accountability will be taken and whoever needs to answer these questions could answer,” he said.

Haufiku’s revelation comes after The Namibian yesterday reported that the ACC is advancing in its investigation into alleged corruption at the health ministry in a potential web of corruption involving medical tenders, suppliers and senior officials.

According to Haufiku, infighting in the ministry also contributed to corruption and weakening the ministry.

“There was infighting with top management during my tenure and that weakened the ministry’s administration and especially the managerial issues. Not much was moving there. Corruption practices must have been there before even 2016,” he said.

Former health minister Kalumbi Shangula yesterday told The Namibian that there have always been allegations of tender irregularities in the health ministry long before he became a minister.

“It continued and even after my time, I am sure it continued,” he said.

“However, during my time there was nobody with evidence to say this is what has been alleged, but allegations were there and no concrete evidence was brought forward. What I know is that there has been theft of medicines and some of the culprits were arrested,” he said.

In 2016, the ACC arrested eight ministry staff members, including an accountant, a nurse and cleaners for submitting over N$2 million in fraudulent overtime and lodging claims. Recently, current health minister Esperance Luvindao asked the ACC to probe an alleged medicine theft and importation syndicate operating within the ministry.

Meanwhile, ACC spokesperson Josephine Nghituwamata says the case of corruption in the health ministry dates back to 2019.

“We have a case the health ministry has had since 2019 and it is for confiscation of a medicine container. We handed it over to the prosecutor general,” she told The Namibian yesterday.

The Namibian this week also reported that sources say there is a list of people and companies being investigated, as well as transactions involving N$600 million, and that a former medicine supplier to the ministry, a relative and former executive director were ordered to surrender their passports to the ACC as part of the investigations.

However, the ACC yesterday denied that they had confiscated the passports of individuals.

“The report that we have confiscated people’s passports is not true. However, we can confirm that the recent case of health irregularities is still at an infant stage.

“We got the report from the minister and whistleblower and we are still assessing it and are not at a stage of investigations. The minister has mentioned that she submitted the report to parliament,” she said.

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