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The National Oil Company (NOC), which has been in
dispute with the Board of Directors of the Addis
Abeba City Buses Enterprise (ACBE) over a revoked
oil and lubricants tender award, filed a lawsuit
against the Enterprise demanding a compensation of
2.8 million Br. The Board, which is locked in
internal turmoil with the management and the labour
union, is in a row with NOC in connection with the
tender floated for the procurement of oil and
lubricants for a period of five years.
The Oil Company has been awarded a 335 million Br
procurement tender before being terminated on
legitimacy grounds.
Shortly after the controversial award of the tender
to NOC, Haileluel Tadesse, general manager of the
Enterprise, was suspended from his duty and
subsequently sacked by the Board.
It was in October 2006, that ACBE floated the tender
once again for the procurement of oil which was
cancelled for the second time in three years.
In the past 35 years, Total-Ethiopia was the sole
supplier for all types of the Enterprise’s fuel
consumption. However, the desire to float a tender
and award the contract to the best bidding company
has brought nothing more than dispute and
controversy.
In line with the spirit of the tendering committee’s
recommendation, in his letter of March 19, 2007, the
Enterprise’s former manager, Haileluel, awarded the
contract to NOC on grounds that the Oil Company’s
offer was the least among all other bidding
companies such as Shell Ethiopia, Total Ethiopia and
Yetebaberut Beherawi Petroleum (YBP). The letter
written by Haileluel states: “since you (NOC) are
the one that offered the least price, you are
recommended to carry on the contract.”
Based on this development, the Enterprise sent the
contractual agreement for NOC. However, on its part,
NOC responded to the Enterprise’s letter by
inserting some corrections to be made on the content
of the document.
Within a day of his letter written to NOC, Haileluel
was suspended from discharging his duty by Tenager
Yismaw, Anbessa Board chairman. Two months after
NOC’s award, Tenager terminated it and wrote a
letter to the Oil Company explaining the contractual
agreement termination. Hence, a tender was floated
once again.
“We were subjected to costly commitment from
inception of the tender process and have imported
various petroleum products prior to the cancellation
of the award; as a result, we lost 2.8 million Br,”
stated NOC’s application filed before the Federal
High Court last week.
“It would be either for the Enterprise to uphold the
earlier result of the tender or compensation to be
paid to us,” NOC requested.
One week after his suspension on March 22, 2007,
Haileluel’s request to resign was not approved;
however, his request had to be approved later on.
The termination of contract written by Tenager
reads: “A decision has been reached to remove
Haileluel from his position of responsibility
effective June 11, 2007, due to his failure to
assume his duty in a manner the Enterprise expected
of him.” A copy of this letter has been sent to the
Privatisation and Public Supervisory Enterprise
Agency (PPESA).
Although the circumstances under which Haililuel was
sacked from his position were attributed to his
decision to award the tender for NOC, other
procurements made earlier have more to do with his
termination.
“When you were an employee of the Enterprise, you
failed to discharge your duty and engaged yourself
in suspicious activities; hence the Board of
Directors formed an investigative committee that has
been exploring the procurement of tires and springs
made earlier,” stated the letter written by the
Chairman of the Board.
“Based on the findings compiled by the investigative
committee, you are found to be in breach of the rule
and principle of the Enterprise and failed to take
the full responsibility of the duty accorded to you.
With the possibility of accountability in the Court
of Law, you are hereon terminated from working at
the Enterprise for unfavourable conduct,” asserted
Tenager’s letter.
Tenager, who is the director of the Drivers and
Mechanics Institute at the Enterprise, has once
again fired the ACBE’s Technical Department Head and
the newly appointed acting manager, Hailu Agazi,
replaced the former manager, Haileluel.
Fekeria Sabit has become the third manager at the
helm of the Enterprise in its top position in the
space of few months.
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