P68 Million Tender Rotting At Delta Dairies

Monitor Editor | Monday August 11, 2014 13:58

This dietary supplement has been missing since March this year. Not because government does not care. A P68 million tender is rotting in the offices of the milk producers and suppliers, Delta Dairies, a citizen owned, and by extension, government owned enterprise, employing about 56 staff.

However, since the tender was awarded, the milk plant, the brainchild of citizen promoter, Howard Sigwele, has been under lock and key, with no operations taking place. The first delivery of milk from this lucrative tender was to take place in April this year. Basically it has been seven months since government deliberately empowered this citizen enterprise but they have not delivered and the 300,000 pupils across the country continue to suffer malnutrition. What is also mind boggling is the fact that CEDA, who now holds 98.5% stake in the company, has literally abandoned the company and do not seem to care first about the P68 million tender, and secondly about the sufferings their “I Don’t Care” attitude has brought to the children of Botswana. The employees at Delta Dairies have gone for four months now without pay, and CEDA do not seem to care.

We are informed that in April CEDA instructed management to find buyers for the company so that they could recoup their losses.  Although four firm offers meeting the valuation of the company have since been received only awaiting to be given the thumbs up by CEDA, it is the same CEDA that has been unnecessarily dragging the process. Board meetings called for the agenda are not attended, no responses have been given to prospective buyers, and no one seems to be coming out to shoulder responsibility for this process, not even CEDA chairman, its CEO, or a deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Trade responsible for CEDA. When it comes to this agenda item, everyone goes into hiding. 

The CEDA board and top management should realise that this is no joke. Government has just issued a P68 million tender for the  delivery of milk through Delta Dairies and this should be done without these hide and seek games played out at the expense of our children.