Auditor General’s report: Where are the voices?

Former President FTJ Chiluba once said Zambians are docile. This is because when we witness an outrage we jump up and down for a few days and then forget it ever happened. The only exception to this, ironically, was Chiluba’s 3^rd Term bid which faced sustained opposition until he gave up.

Every year the Office of the Auditor General produces a report outlining how public funds are being spent by government and quasi government institutions. Each year we read about clear cases of abuse of public resources and yet nothing seems to be done to punish these plunderers.

After the release of the latest report, the Minister of Finance was quoted as saying GRZ needs time to study this report before taking any action. I am sorry but some of these incidents are obvious and do not need further investigation. Any half competent judge or jury would recognise the abuse of public funds.

To demonstrate this fact I will highlight the example of a contract awarded by National Airports Corporation (NACL) to supply and install a generator at Lusaka international Airport.

On 3rd April 2008 NACL awarded a tender for the supply, delivery, installation, testing and commissioning of 800 KVA Three Phase 50Hz 1500 RPM Standby Generator Set at Lusaka International Airport to Sulmach Limited at a contract price of K1,410,000,000 with a delivery period of twenty (20) weeks. Works commenced on 14th May 2008 and were scheduled to be completed by 15th October 2008. A total of K1,142,003,600 (inclusive of an advance payment of K846,000,000) representing 80% of the contract price had been paid to the contractor as of August 2009 leaving a balance of K267,996,400 outstanding. The following were observed:

In April 2009, the contractor could not proceed with the civil works due to liquidity problems. In this regard, an advance payment of K30,000,000 was made to the contractor despite the earlier advance payment having been made contrary to the conditions of the contract that required certification of completed works before payment could be made.

The building under construction in which the Generator set would be housed did not meet some of the technical specifications outlined in the signed contract. For instance the contractor did not make a provision for a generator plinth contrary to the technical specifications provided by the employer in the contract

A physical verification of the civil works carried out in August 2009, revealed that construction works had stalled and the contractor was not on site.

Consequently, the generator set which had been supplied twelve months earlier in September 2008 had not been installed.

The facts of this case speak for themselves. NACL clearly awarded this contract to a company incapable for completing the task and had liquidity problems. K1,142,003,600 of public money has been pocketed by a private company without fulfilling its obligations in full under the contract. The NACL board or the Minister should sack the person(s) who made decision to award the contract and advance funds to the contractor.

The report is full of similar clear cut examples of abuse.

There is no point in having an Office of the Auditor General if parliament and government agencies do not take note and act on its findings. What is the point of carrying out these costly audits if the plunders are not punished?

The Panel.

NOBODY asked donors to help Zambia

NOBODY asked donors to help Zambia, President Rupiah Banda charged yesterday.

Answering questions from journalists at Lusaka International Airport upon arrival from Namibia, President Banda said donors must not blackmail the country.

President Banda said donors chose for themselves to assist Zambia in the road and health sectors.

“So they should not use that as blackmail against our countries. One day when you have grown enough and you are leaders of this country, you will know how it feels that a diplomat comes from another country, instead of coming here and appreciate the hospitality which the Zambian government and the Zambian people give him, he is busy trying to threaten us.

We are an independent state. We are very grateful for whatever help they give us but we will not be turned into their puppets.”

The President was reacting to the story that broke last week that the Global fund to fight Aids, TB and Malaria was suspending $300Million worth of support. We all know that there are/were serious issues surrounding the abuse of funds at the Ministry of Health and a number of cases are before the courts. The president should have offered a more dignified response by reporting what government is actually doing to combat such corrupt practises. There is no point in disguising the facts.

As a Zambian living in one of the European donor countries, I am mindful of the sacrifices being asked of taxpayers in these countries. At a time when the UK government has announced cuts to public spending of about 25% across government departments and increased VAT and some other taxes, there is need for countries in receipt of aid to demonstrate accountability and transparency. People in Europe are not making these sacrifices for Zambian politicians and civil servants to line their own pockets.

A number of Zambians in the Diaspora remit funds back home to meet a variety of purposes. Sometimes the funds are tied to specific projects. E.g. one can send funds to pay for school fees or rentals for a relative. At other times, funds are sent with no strings attached. For funds that are marked for specific use, the recipient is surely under obligation (by virtue of accepting to receive the funds) to ensure that the money is actually used for the intended purpose. If this is not done, the sender has a right to be ask why the instructions have not been carried out and demand the return of the money or impose some other sanction (e.g. stop sending further funds). The donor community have taken a similar stance which is wholly understandable.

A couple of months ago, the POST newspaper run an editorial entitled “A nation in hopelessness”. At the time I thought the piece was way over the top. Here is a paragraph from the article.

We all know that our country has been going through many difficulties. We have suffered, from a critical failure of leadership. The people that we have put in office to show the way and lead us to the realisation of our full potential have failed us. People who should be working for the common good have chosen to work for their personal and family aggrandizement. This irresponsibility has condemned a lot of our people to a perpetual state of hopelessness. This is what happens when leaders abdicate their responsibility to lead and allow the country to drift.

I was not a big fun of the late Levy Mwanawasa but at least he seemed to understand the anger people felt towards the plunderers. Yes the pursuit of the plunderers had its own problems and some of them are still walking the street of Lusaka and London but the man showed a lot of leadership in this area. Mr. Banda on the other hand does not seem to share Levy’s vision. Under his watch, the cancer of corruption seems to have returned with a vengeance. Perhaps we are indeed a nation in hopelessness!

We call upon the President to issue a statement to clarify his reported comments and stress the fact that his government will continue fighting corruption and protect donor funds from potential plunderers.

The PANEL

Honour among thieves

More than a week after being convicted by the courts, Katele Kalumba is still National Secretary of the rulling MMD. Yesterday we had Mike Mulogoti pleading for people to feel sorry for Katele and this morning Michael Mabenga is saying the National Executive Committee of the MMD will soon meet to decided whether the disgraced MP should step down from his position or not.

THE National Executive Committee (NEC) of the MMD will determine whether national secretary Katele Kalumba should resign from his position or not, party national chairperson Michael Mabenga has said. Speaking in an interview in Lusaka yesterday, Mr Mabenga said the issue of whether Dr Kalumba should resign from his position or not would only be determined by NEC and advised outsiders to desist from commenting on the matter that was purely internal.

“This is a NEC matter and I don’t know how many times I am going to talk about it. The NEC will soon meet and it will be discussed, it’s only NEC that can determine such a matter,” Mr Mabenga said.

I sense that the MMD do not realise how angry people are with the plunderers. As a party they seem to take a very sympathetic view of thieves. The current Chairman (Michael Mabenga) was recommended for prosecution after the high court found that he had abused Constituency Development Funds (CDFs) and yet the MMD found him to be the best person to be Chairman. And now the most senior officer of the party is a convicted criminal and the MMD needs to hold a meeting to determine his fate. Surely Katele should resign on his accord failure to which strong messages should be sent to him in private or public to make it very clear that the MMD do not want him to continue holding the position of National Secretary. He should also be encouraged to resign his seat as MP so that the people for Chiengi are given a chance to vote for an MP not tainted by scandal.

The PANEL

Court shows leniency to plunderers

The POST and the Times are carrying the story involving the conviction of former finance officers in President Chiluba’s government.

“LUSAKA High Court Deputy Director of Operations Edward Musona yesterday sentenced MMD national secretary Katele Kalumba and three others to five years imprisonment for corruption.Musona, sitting as a magistrate, handed Kalumba a five-year sentence with hard labour after being found guilty on one count of corrupt practices by a public officer.He sentenced former finance permanent secretary Stella Chibanda to five years simple imprisonment on five out of the nine corruption charges while Access Financial Services Limited (AFSL) directors Aaron Chungu and Faustin Kabwe were also jailed for five years each with hard labour.Magistrate Musona also sentenced former Ministry of Finance chief economist Bede Mpande, former finance ministry director of budget Boniface Nonde, former secretary to the treasury Professor Benjamin Mweene to five years imprisonment with hard labour but suspended for 24 months.”

While I welcome the success scored by the Task Force on Corruption in this case, I am rather disappointed by the leniency showed by the court to this bunch of selfish and unpatriotic Zambians. Lets be clear about one thing. As a result of actions by these plunderers, our schools went without teachers and desks, our hospitals had no drugs and doctors, communities were deprived of clean running water and other essentials of life. Funds that could have been used to uplift the living standards of our people were diverted for personal use. It is therefore rather disappointing that the court found that the stiffest sentence it could slap on these people is 5 years. They will probably be out tomorrow after launching an appeal. Look at Regina Chiluba. A convicted plunderer still enjoying her freedom and fruits of her theft!

The lawyer for Katele did not seem to realise how angry the people of Zambia are with the actions of his client by offering this rather pathetic plea.

“In mitigation Kalumba’s lawyer, Vincent Malambo, said Kalumba and his colleagues in the dock were not criminals but men to whom the country owed a debt for their contribution in addressing the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) completion point issue. Malambo said Kalumba was also a politician carrying the hopes and aspirations of thousands of his people in Chiengi and he was a man with health complications. Malambo said Kalumba was a consultant of international repute. Malambo said sending Kalumba and his friends to prison would be like imposing a death sentence on them. In passing sentence, magistrate Musona said no one could doubt the love that Kalumba had for Zambia and he had served the people in various portfolios. He said Kalumba was a sitting parliamentarian who served the country very well up to the commencement of the investigations.”

As a country we need to wake up and smell the coffee. We need to send a very clear message to all that theft of public resources will not be tolerated. The courts need to come hard on anyone convicted of this offence by imposing long custodial sentences. I know our prisons are full but surely there is always room for plunderers.

Now that Katele Kalumba has been convicted, I would expect the 'honourable' MP to resign from Parliament and as Secretary of the ruling Party.

The PANEL.

Time to resolve PF/UPND Pact leadership

The results of the last two bye-elections in Milanzi and Mufumbwe have clearly demonstrated why the opposition need to approach the 2011 general elections with a little be more creativity.

Had PF fielded a candidate in Mufumbwe, the ruling MMD would have carried the day. By the same token, the opposition would have won the contest in Milanzi had they rallied behind a single candidate. UNIP basically spoiled the race for PF. Perhaps it is time to welcome UNIP in the pact and ensure that the MMD fights a united front all the time.

I have always supported the pact and agreed to the decision to kick the leadership issue into the long grass when the alliance was announced. However, the time has now come for the leadership of the pact to be ironed out. In particular, the pact needs to resolve who its presidential candidate is going to be in the next general election. Time is running out and the constant rumours that RB is going to go for an early election makes this issue even more pressing. My personal opinion is that Sata should lead the pact for now and stand against RB as he is best placed to win the election. HH should then serve in Sata’s cabinet to gain some valuable government experience with the view to lead the pact after Sata retires. I am not a fan of Sata but sometimes one has swallow personal pride and principles for the good of the country.

The PANEL