In 2017, lawmakers passed an insertion to the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act, which stated that the 60% of Government’s procurement needs must be from black indigenous Malawians. Following the law, which is said to be violated since its inception, the Director General of Public  Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA) has addressed the matter in a circular sent to heads of various parastatals and other public institutions.

The Director General of the PPDA, Elias Hausi has also outlined the procurement process, stating that the indigenous black Malawians shall be required to prove their to prove their business ownership by attaching to their bids or quotations and colored copies of their Malawi National identity Cards.

“The Authority will continue to conduct Post Procurement Reviews on PDEs to, among other things, ensure that provisions for preference for Black Malawians are adhered to.” stressed the circular, “The Authority will not also tolerate any fronting of Indigenous Black Malawian enterprises by businesses that are not entitled to the margin of preference. If discovered, both businesses will risk being from supplying to public institutions over a specific period.” The development follows questioning from a group of Small and Medium Businesses who said that the law needs further explanation.

Chamber for Small and Medium Business Association (CSMBA) CSMBA Executive Secretary, James Chiutsi, said the association looked forward to reaping the most from the new law, but needed clarification on some of the provision. “Government is the biggest buyer of goods and services in the country and the law talks about preference being given to SMEs but we want to understand, for example, the 60:40 provision. We are not sure what this exactly means and how this will be implemented, so we are waiting for clarification.”