The National Public Procurement Authority has disclosed in its 2016 Report that airline ticketing for twenty three (23) MDAs cost the sum of Le 8,809 billion.
According to the Report, this area poses a serious significant challenge for them as the cost varies greatly for similar destinations at similar travelling times.
“There is significant variance in the cost of airline tickets across the whole of the public sector,” the Report details.
It further stated that despite other factors impacting on the overall cost of tickets, such as the wide variance in ticket class, the time of purchase and method of purchase, yet, at the same time, it came out clearly that overcharges by travelling agencies for airline tickets in the public sector is common.
They blamed the travelling ticketing agencies and their agents, pointing out that a basic factor responsible for this is officials in the public sector sometimes dictate to them the mark-up they should add to the normal cost of tickets.
Travelling agents work on a commission basis, therefore the higher the cost of the ticket the greater their total commission, the Report concludes.