President Yoweri Museveni has accused the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority-PPDA of frustrating partnerships between state-owned agencies and private investors.

Museveni argues that some PPDA protocols, which sound legally applicable in the course of procuring user items like machinery, are not friendly to large-scale industry setups. He for instance faulted PPDA for advertising a tender for the procurement of machinery for Atiak Sugar Factory in local newspapers which attracted middlemen, who were preferred for their low prices, yet they were providing fake equipment.

Museveni says that large-scale industry machinery and earth-moving equipment are manufactured by a few factories around the world, whose operators sell them directly to willing buyers. He argues that PPDA would have opted to engage them rather than advertise in local newspapers, which the key players in that field lack access to.

He says that middlemen or businessmen who normally win these contracts aim at profit maximization and in the long-run purchase substandard equipment in order to earn big from their investments after winning the bids. Museveni was presiding over the fourth bi-annual retreat of the Presidential CEO Forum, at the Kiira Motors Corporation in Jinja, on Thursday/

Museveni further argues that PPDA should be limited to the purchase of smaller office equipment, stationery and sanitaryware, which are manufactured by several players within the market to boost their fair bargain for government opportunities, but the purchase of large machinery should be settled with the manufacturers.