CEO SUSPENDED IN E300M KELLOGG’S FACTORY PROJECT

MBABANE – Two executives of a prominent company have been suspended from work for 30 days.

The chief executive officer (CEO) and finance manager have been put on ice pending an investigation into an E300 million investment project. Identities of the CEO and finance manager will not be revealed at the moment pending the outcome of the probe. It has been established that the investigation was instituted to establish how finances were utilised during earthworks for a factory project in Matsapha.

Behind the suspension of the CEO and the finance manager is allegedly a powerful construction industry guru, who has been reportedly holding meetings in one of the resorts in Ezulwini where he questioned the manner in which the tender to build the factory or warehouse was being handled. The project manager had sought proposals from four companies that had capacity to build and deliver the warehouse to house Kellogg’s Eswatini on time for the official opening in April 2020.

According to sources, one company won the closed tender, but the scope of work is said to have changed after a new site was identified to be more suitable for the project. The company that had won the tender was negotiated to embrace the change of the scope of work, which came with new designs. Sources said the work was to be undertaken in two phases – first and second phase – with the first one being earthworks that were to be done by the company, which had initially been given the job.

Sources said the second phase was the construction of the factory shell, something which they were going to discuss on Friday (September 20, 2019). Due to the suspensions, the meeting to discuss phase two did not take place. Sources said moves were afoot to re-invite companies to submit expression of interest for the construction of the factory shell with new designs.
“There was an indication that companies with credible records should be invited to submit proposals,” the source explained. It has been established that the building of the factory shell for Kellogg’s was a highly contested project and there is a lot of things happening behind the scenes.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: