National ID Cards project
consultant irked by bad
FINNIGAN WA SIMBEYE Dar es Salaam
THE main consultant in the 200bn/- national identity cards project, Gotham International Limited, has expressed dismay over discrediting reports appearing in various sections of the local media in recent weeks.
According to the company’s Executive Chairman, Jack Gotham, the reports against the company and some of its officials appear to be orchestrated by malicious business rivals. ’’We have read press reports describing me personally as a dangerous person on the list of wanted people, and other reports that our company’s headquarters is in Magomeni, all of which are not true,’’ Gotham told a news conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday.
He clarified that the building described in various media reports as the company’s headquarters in Magomeni, is actually his mother’s home. ’’The company offices are along Old Bagamoyo Road...opposite TMJ Hospital,’’ he added.
The company is understood to have got the consultancy job for the national ID Cards project from Ministry of Home Affairs back in 2001. However, according to Gotham, some media outlets have gone as far as reporting that the company does not have a formal contract with the Government for the job, an allegation that he dismissed.
’’The truth is that we have a legally-binding contract, and it is abnormal to think that anyone can work with the Government without signing any contract,’’ he asserted.
He also dismissed speculation that Gotham International got the lucrative contract without following proper procedures, as required by public procurement law. Clarifying further on this, the company’s Procurement Officer, Shushu Mamuya, said they got the contract under Act No. 3 of the 2001 Public Procurement Law, and not the amended 2004 Act, ’’which is what some people have been questioning.’’ ’’When the 2004 Procurement Act was enacted, all contracts signed beforehand were recognized as continuing to legally exist,’’ Mamuya explained further.
Asked to disclose how much Gotham International is earning in its capacity as consultant for the ID Cards project, the company’s Managing Director, Dr John Kyaruzi, said it was little more than peanuts in comparison to the overall 200bn/- project budget. The row pitting the consultant firm against some officials within the Ministry of Home Affairs indicates further trouble linked to the project, with controversy already dogging the process of picking a company to implement it. Said a clearly exasperated Gotham:
’’We as a company don’t have any role at all in the tendering process...it’s solely in the ministerial tender board’s area of jurisdiction, and whoever wins the contract will do so by meeting the conditions for the job.’’
Six companies have been short-listed to offer smart-card IT infrastructure for the project, which the consultants estimate will cost around 35bn/-. They are Unisys of South Africa, Giesecke & Devrient FZE of Dubai, Iris Corporation Berhad of Malaysia, Madras Security Printers of India, and a joint venture bid by Tata Consultancy Services and Ontrack Innovations Limited, both from India.
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