Procurement Scandal in Burundi: Donors concerned of UNDP’s procurement capacities and "transparency"

“Eerste les : je mag wel je geld geven aan UNDP, maar je krijgt geen inzage in wat ze "interne" documenten noemen....” (In Dutch)

“You can give money to UNDP, you will not get access to what they call internal documents” (In English)

Another procurement scandal emerges from the heart of Africa. This time to complain are the donors themselves, British and Belgium Government, whom respectively have invested heavily in infrastructure improvements, and have entrusted UNDP Country Office in Bujumbura with the purchase of medical equipment in this Central African country.

One of the donors the Belgium Government invested 3 million Euros for the “2006 Burundi Emergency Programme Open Trust Fund”. The ‘Programme’ was set up in ATLAS as a single project channeling the funds received as well from other donors, namely United Kingdom and Norway.

UNDP's letter, from Country Director Antonius Broek, was also sent to Norway, apparently because the botched procurement also involved the UN's Peace-building Fund, PBF. Broek refers to an "anticipated increase in procurement volume from the PBF funded projects." Broek, along with the UK's Ms. Hogwood and the Special Representative of the Secretary General in Burundi, had received the complaint of the vendor, Hospital Medical Services Bujumbura, which protested that UNDP had divulged to an eliminated bidder the details of HMS' financial offer.

Both Belgium and British diplomats have shown restrain and patience while dealing with the lack of response and collaboration from UNDP Country Office in Bujumbura.

Many times they expressed their concerns directly with the office of UNDP Comptroller, Darshak Shah and Krishan Batra. Those concerns related to the installation of sufficient controls and capacity as indicated by the audits. Donors were adamant that those concerns should have been addressed not by the country office, but by the office of the comptroller (Darshak Shah).

A staff of UNDP Bujumbura responding under conditions of anonymity said that: “Many times the diplomats had to raise their voice and express concerns regarding the causes of the discovered irregularities, lack of capacity and non-compliance. Belgium (an Executive Board Member) expressed concern over how we executed in practice the decisions of the board and how the system actually functioned”.

The source continued to explain that: -“their patience came to an end when our Director Mr. Broek replied to them, telling in a letter that UNDP could not disclose any information regarding the investigation nor internal documents related to the procurement process undertaken.”

When questioned about any direct assistance offered from the Central Procurement Unit at UNDP's HeadQuarters in NY, the source said: " yes we contacted New York many times, at the end finally they sent Mr. Dimitri Samaras. But the situation on the ground has not changed, instead of building our procurement capacities and following on what Mr. Samaras told and teached us, Krishan Batra and some others in HQs wanted to transfer the procurement to another Country Office closer to Krishan's "reach"".

And that indeed was it. A Belgian Diplomat from Bujumbura, expressing his agitation about the case, phrased the relation with UNDP this way (in Dutch/in Eglish):

Lessons learned (voor zover we dat al niet wisten) :

• Eerste les : je mag wel je geld geven aan UNDP, maar je krijgt geen inzage in wat ze "interne" documenten noemen...
• Tweede les : ronkende zaken zoals "Business Center" verbergen een pak amateurisme
• Derde les : UNDP procedures zijn alles behalve transparent
• Vierde les : lokaal "ownership" is ver weg
• Vijfde les : het is al "damage control" dat geldt

Lessons learned (translation):

• you can give money to UNDP, you will not get access to what they all internal documents
• an expensive name like ?business center? normally hides amateurism.
• UNDP procedures not at all transparent
• local ownership is gone
• damage control is paramount.

Thanks to UNDP’s lack of procurement capacities on the ground and corrupt behaviors, the poor and the sick in Bujumbura won’t be able to receive on time the targeted aid promised and awarded to them from the people of United Kingdom, Belgium and Norway.

Because a number of UNDP WATCH sources go out of their way to express commitment to serving the poor in a transparent and ethical way, we thank everyone for the support. Keep those cards, letters and emails coming, and phone calls too, we apologize for any phone tag, but please continue trying, and keep the information flowing.