Businessman charged with violating medicines Act

Cosmas Mukaratirwa, the father of a five-year-old child who has been awarded a pharmaceutical supply tender worth N$1.3bn ($70.8m), is to appear in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on 5 December. The Central Procurement Board of Namibia (CPBN) earlier this year confirmed that Cospharm Investments is 51% owned by a five-year-old and 49% by his father. In an unrelated matter, Mukaratirwa was summoned in a criminal case in connection with the alleged supply of unregistered medicine worth N$650 000 ($35 000) to the government’s Central Medical Stores in 2019. The Namibian reports that the charges are related to a contravention of section 18(1) of the Medicines and Related Substances Control Act. The tender is for the supply of medicine used in the treatment of cancer and psychotic disorders, and is on hold until the review process into the manner in which the tender was evaluated is completed.