By David Muwanga

THE American Procurement Company (AMPROC) has won a World Bank-funded project to audit 60 government agencies in Malawi.

The agreement for the two-year deal was signed by the AMPROC chief executive officer, Robert Mwesigwa, while A Makhambera, the project manager of the Financial Management, Transparency and Accountability Project (FIMTAP) signed on behalf of the Malawian government in Lilongwe recently.

A statement from the Malawian president’s office under which FIMTAP is operating, said AMPROC beat three bidders.

The bidders were Netherlands-based SGS, Charles Kendal and Partners from UK and AH Consulting from Uganda.

“The audit will cover all procurement carried out by the 60 public procurement entities during the two financial years of 2005/06 and 2006/07,” Mwesigwa told a press conference at AMPROC’s offices in Nakasero, Kampala.

He said the audit team, which would have Ugandans and Malawians, would thoroughly review all the procurements.
“Like we are doing in Tanzania, we shall physically inspect the quality and quantities of goods, works and services procured. In order to be effective, we are also training Malawian officials who will work with us,” Mwesigwa said.

He said although the company had done a lot of auditing in Uganda and trained many government officers in procurement, there were still many gaps to be filled.

“The Government still needs to train procurement officers in following the laws,” Mwesigwa said.