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.

Difficult questions for the UPND/PF Pact

There are some worrying questions emanating from the appearance of Mr. Hichilema on Radio Phoenix and reported in the POST. The main issue that threatens the existence of the pact revolves around leadership. Who is going to be the Presidential candidate for the pact or are they going to field two candidates? In a recent blog we asked the pact to resolve this issue as a matter of urgency. Below are some interesting extracts from HH’s appearance on the radio programme.

Asked about who would head the alliance in 2011, Hichilema answered: “That question has been asked several times. We said that the Pact is here to stay and we reiterate that. The Pact is here because the people of Zambia wanted it. The political map of Zambia has been pretty drawn. People are fatigued with divisions, that’s what the Pact is here to resolve. To unite the people to take out the divisions that have been too obvious. This pact is being structured on that basis of unity of purpose. Ethnicity should never divide us. We must organise this pact, learn the lessons of the past.”

He said people in the Pact were not fools and they understood what MMD wanted.

“Why are they driving us to give them a candidate? When they are squabbling whether it’s Ng’andu Magande, whether it’s George Mpombo, whether it’s Rupiah Banda and whether MMD will have a convention.

A caller from Ndola, a Mr Mizhi who described himself as Hichilema’s traditional cousin asked if he was ready to serve under Sata.

“I want you to tell me the truth from the bottom of your heart. The pact that you have entered in with Mr Sata the writings are on the wall no doubt about this. It is Mr Sata who is going to be adopted as a presidential candidate from that pact. Now badala, again I repeat tell me the truth from the bottom of your heart. Are you ready to serve under Mr Michael Chilufya Sata?” Mizhi asked.

But Hichilema maintained that the Pact had not decided on the candidate yet.

“…That Mr Sata will be adopted candidate, that’s not true, absolutely not true. If you say it’s Hakainde, that is not true also because we have not decided and we have explained this several times. What we are saying is not really basically …if you like to dodge the questions, there is no dodging the questions. We have set a process, we have set a procedure,” Hichilema said.

I fully understand that this is a very delicate and difficult issue to resolve. However, the pact is now carrying hopes of many Zambians at home and abroad who see this as a credible opportunity to rid themselves of the corrupt MMD regime. We therefore urge the leadership of the UPND and PF to bang their heads together and come to a workable solution. It is said that a chain is as strong as its weakest link. As long as the leadership of the pact is not resolved it will be weakest block in the pact and enemies are going to be hammering on this until a fracture occurs. Many progressive Zambians do not want this to happen. Mr Sata and Mr Hichilema please resolve this matter before it is too late!.

The PANEL

"It’s how we end that matters" by Martin Kalungu-Banda

I had an opportunity to review a brilliantly written book about the late President Levy Mwanawasa by Amos Malupenga last year. My only criticism of the text was that it was rather one sided except for the comments by Akashambatwa Lewanika.

Another book on Mwanawasa has been released authored by Martin Kalungu-Banda. I have not had a chance to read the book yet but below is a summary of Martin's Motivation for writing this book..


As we search for the right leadership, some of the questions that we have to grapple with include: How can you tell which person is likely to provide quality leadership? Can academic credentials alone prove suitability for leadership? Is the ability to speak eloquently a sign of leadership capacity? To what extent does a person’s external appearance or presentation help to show what kind of leader he or she would make? How can we pierce through the façade of a person in order to know who they truly are and what leadership they are capable of providing?The passing on of President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa, Zambia’s third President, on 19 August 2008 reignited these and other similar reflections in many people’s minds. Thinking about President Mwanawasa led me to ponder on his leadership. I couldn’t find a better way of sharing these reflections than by writing down some of the stories that capture a side of his leadership that rarely came through in his public appearances. I am also convinced that we do teach one another as we share our stories. The ones in this book show how I saw him relate to other people and myself, and I hope that these tales will give an insight into the source of President Mwanawasa’s leadership style that he displayed in the seven years he led the Zambian nation. I use the term ‘source’ to refer to that deep-seated intention from which one’s values and actions spring. Otto Scharmer of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management says we can trace our life source by finding answers to these two questions: What is my ‘highest self, the self that transcends pettiness and signifies [my] best future possibility?’ and what is my purpose – what am I here on earth to do?The first question implies that I have so much potential that I can choose to be better than I am now – I can definitely choose to rise above being small-minded and I can create a vision in my head of the best that I can be. The second question reminds me that I am unique and must surely have a special role or roles that suit me best, and I can try to find them.


If have read the book, please let us know your views.

The PANEL

PF and UPND agree to work together

The POST is reporting this morning that the Patriotic Front (PF) and United Party for National Development (UPND) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at dislodging the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) from power. This is a very positive move from the two political parties and has a fair chance of succeeding because it is being made way ahead of the next elections. PF and UPND have a chance to know each other better and build trust in the relationship.

The two parties stated that they had therefore started a long and difficult march in the same direction, not as one organisation but as two giants in Zambian politics."We do hereby commit ourselves to the following: (1) our parties will work together at all levels on all matters of national importance; (2) our parties will jointly provide more effective checks and balances on Rupiah Banda's corrupt MMD administration with immediate effect; (3) we will provide an effective, formidable and unbeatable electoral challenge to the corrupt MMD in all elections and we demand early Presidential and Parliamentary elections," read the communiqué in part. "We will lay the groundwork for an effective, accountable, efficient and pro-poor government to replace this most notorious, scandalous and corrupt MMD regime."

The MoU highlights the focuses on the areas the parties agree on such as not criticising each other in public and presenting a united front when attacking the MMD. However, they have kicked the decision on whether they would field a single candidate in the next general election in the long grass.

The PANEL.