On the suitability of equipment, as I said, the Allied Timbers have one like that and we made visits to go and see and we are convinced it works because it is working at Allied Timbers. When we have fires in that area they are the ones who come and assist within Manicaland. So we have one has been proven.
Hon. Hamauswa said that people at home are complaining why we are getting fire tenders. We go to the level that we can go to. If the local authorities come with a request, we say to ourselves they have consulted their relevant wards. We are convinced that the consultations were done on the ground.
One Hon. Member asked whether there are statistics that force us to see it fit to acquire fire tenders – statistics are there. When I was giving my presentation, I stated the fires that we have not been able to contain that we experienced within the last ten months. So statistics are there and they speak for themselves.
Hon. Hamauswa went on to say that it is onerous for one to apologise and truly speaking, we have followed the procedure and I do not see any reason why we should even get to that.
Hon. Chikombo said that we are not following the Constitution; as I said before, the transactions were above board and we consulted the local authorities through the fire officers. On whether we violated the Public Procurement Act, I said where there is a bilateral agreement, it supersedes that. Also there was a request on whether they will be trained, we said yes, they will be trained locally and…
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