Malawi Govt. cancels Techno Brain’s Passport Contract - Malawi Nyasa Times

The government of Malawi has finally canceled the controversial passport printing contract worth 60.8 million US dollars (approx. 50 billion crowns), which was awarded to Techno Brain Global FZE in 2019, confirmed the country's chief legal advisor, Attorney General Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda .

The government's chief prosecutor Nyirenda said the repeal was in line with Section 46 (c) of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Act 2017.

“We always have to do the right thing, no matter what it takes. As a country, we have a duty to ensure that we protect public money from being plundered.

Attorney General Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda

"As a government, everything we do has to be people-centric because we serve the people," said Nyirenda.

Section 46 (c) of the PPDA Act 2017 states that; A procurement and sales agency can terminate a procurement contract for reasons of convenience if this is in the public interest and subject to payment for work or services performed satisfactorily before the termination takes effect and for reimbursable expenses actually incurred, or for specifically within the framework of the procurement contract manufactured goods and reasonable termination costs, but without lost profit.

Nyirenda said the government had given Techno Brain a 30-day deadline to develop.

On March 22, 2018, the then ruling Professor Peter Mutharika, who headed the administration of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), signed an agreement with Techno Brain Global FZE for the delivery of 800,000 electronic passports.

In 2019, the government of Malawi signed a Build-Operate-and-Transfer (BOT) contract with Techno Brain Global FZE (Techno Brain) to upgrade the Passport Issuance System (PIS) and introduce electronic passports.

The contract ran for forty-two months (six months for PIS installation and thirty-six months for passport issuance) at a total cost of $ 60,800,000.00, which is the cost of printing 800,000 passports at a cost of $ 76 per piece corresponds to a passport.

According to the contract, it was agreed that Techno Brain would finance all initial processes including training, meetings, travel and production costs for printing passports.

The Department of Immigration should provide the project office, physical space, water, electricity, security, the project manager and staff for certain training courses.

A Build-Operate-and-Transfer (BOT) agreement is an arrangement between the government and an investor where the investor takes over the construction and financing of a large infrastructure project and operates and maintains it for an agreed period of time and hands it over at the end handed over to the government of the period.

BOTs are one of the forms of international investment, and they are a means of developing a country's infrastructure without the government having to invest public money, while ensuring that the relevant assets ultimately remain in the public sector.

The Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) had written to the Minister of Homeland Security, Richard Chimwendo Banda, in September this year, asking him to facilitate the repeal or amendment of the contract the government had with Techno Brain Global FZE for updating the passport issue closed and introduction of an electronic passport based on the Build Operate Transfer (BOT) model.

HRDC argued to Chimwendo Banda that the contract was designed to favor Techno Brain Global FZE to the detriment of the interests of the Malawians.

HRDC chair Gift Trapence says in the letter he signed with other activists, including Michael Kaiyatsa, after reviewing the contract, that the human rights watchdog believes the contract is tailored to the contractor.

“In such commercial contracts, the limitation of liability is typically 10 percent of the contract price, but Clause 24 of the contract provides a limitation of liability of $ 500,000. In section 49, the payments are not linked to the passports issued. There is no guarantee of performance and no advance payment guarantee. This means that payments are due regardless of the performance of the contractor ”, it says in extracts in the letter.

HRDC informed the government that on October 8, 2020, the World Bank suspended Techno Brain Global FZE related to collusive and fraudulent practices in Liberia, thereby banning them from participating in projects and operations funded by World Bank group institutions.

"Although the e-passport contract is not funded by the World Bank, we believe this lockdown indicates a serious risk to doing business with Techno Brain Global FZE and probably explains why this contract is being skewed towards them," it said the writing.

Attorney General Nyirenda said earlier this week that he was on a mission to legally correct all correctable errors and recover every penny stolen from the public purse.

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