Dispute over Prado cars at Works

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MBABANE – A dispute over the use of Toyota Prado cars is brewing at the Ministry of Public Works and Transport. The Prado cars were part of a fleet of vehicles that were retired by Inyatsi Construction after the completion of Lot 2 of the highway connecting King Mswati III (KMIII) International Airport and Manzini City.

Contracts signed between the State and the contractors are such that at the completion of the works, cars that were bought specifically for the project should be returned to the State.

Some employees of the ministry alleged that ‘junior officers’ were afforded the luxury of driving the Prado cars instead of retiring them to the Central Hire Pool at the CTA.

“It is the duty of the CTA to determine the type of cars to be allocated to government. For instance, if an important guest were to arrive in the country, the Prado would be fitting for such a purpose, instead of going to hire a vehicle at a cost to the taxpayer,” said the source.

The source said maintaining the cars was also at a huge cost since they are luxurious in nature and consume more fuel compared to a sedan.

“Someone who works in the Human Resources Department drives a Prado, which is costly for the kind of work done by such officials,” said the employee.

Responsible

Chief Roads Engineer Vincent Dlamini whose department is responsible for liaising with the road contractors confirmed that the cars were handed over the ministry upon completion of Lot 2 by Inyatsi. He said they were being used by the administration department which makes the PS the best person to comment on the matter.

“I can confirm that there were four or five of such vehicles and came in different colours. Every government ministry which engages the private sector for work usually has such cars because they are then retired upon completion of whatever task. This is why you would come across a government registered vehicle that is red in colour, yet it is common knowledge that government cars are painted white,” Dlamini said.

He said the Toyota Prado cars were not the only vehicles brought by the contractor, but there were other vehicles such as vans and sedans.

He said his suspicion was that people who were making an issue out of the Prado cars were intent on starting internal squabbles.

Principal Secretary (PS) of Public Works and Transport said there was nothing wrong with the allocation of the vehicles by his ministry, as he uses his discretion when assigning officials working tools.

AllocAte

“Any bona fide staff member who has complaints on how I allocate resources to various units of the ministry should talk to me. I am fully responsible for the budget of the ministry, including ensuring that units have appropriate tools to perform their functions,” he said.

The PS said he was the one who made decision on the type of car allocated, depending on the availability of the vehicles, nature of work and if the unit has the budget to maintain that type of vehicle.

“The duty of my colleagues at CTA goes as far as warehousing and distributing fuel, fixing and maintenance of the vehicles and coordinating intergovernmental rentals. That department does all this under my supervision and control.” He said project vehicles retired by by big projects were availed for use by several offices at his discretion, depending on need, assignment and budget.

“If I think officers need to be in field trips more often than others, I would naturally allocate that officer an appropriate vehicle as I did in the case of the vehicles you are referring to. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, not unless some hidden people want to run my office,” he said.

The PS said his office was available to explain to anyone who had questions on the allocation of the cars.