The Patriotic Front (PF) says it will launch investigations into the operations of its company, Ilunda Chalo Investment Limited, to ascertain the ruling party’s assets, secretary-general Edgar Lungu has said.
And some PF Members of Parliament have demanded that Mr Lungu clarifies whether his predecessor Wynter Kabimba has withdrawn his shareholding in Ilunda Chalo.
Mr Lungu told the Daily Nation yesterday that the PF would follow up on Ilunda Chalo business activities as the company was expected to generate income for the party.
He said PF members would be invited to submit comments on the operations of the ruling party’s company.
Mr Lungu explained that the concerns raised by some party members over the running of the Ilunda Chalo were genuine and there was need for more to be done as the party was meant to make profit for the party and also create employment for the youth.
“Yes, the party has a company we shall make a follow-up and we would like to advise our members who have information regarding the company to come up and help us build it. Mr Kabimba was a shareholder because he was the secretary general of the party and we are expected to do the formalities,” he said.
But the MPs who sought anonymity said they were expecting to hear that the former secretary general was not one of the shareholders of the company.
Ilunda Chalo is a PF company formed after the party formed government in 2011 whose shareholders are President Michael Sata, Wynter Kabimba and Imran Merchant an Indian businessman.
The PF members of Parliament demanded that Mr Kabimba should hand over Ilunda Chalo’s documents to Mr Lungu.
They said the company was involved in construction, supply, engineering and agriculture services and that they were aware that some contracts were awarded to the company.
The PF members said it was unfortunate that Mr Kabimba had kept all the information to himself about the running of the company.
“As far as we are concerned, the former party chief executive has not handed over the notes on the company to Mr Lungu. We would like the company to be audited so that we know where the new SG is taking over from and because there was lack of truth about the company. Most Cabinet ministers did not even have a say in it,” said one of the MPs.
The officials said they would not stop demanding information on the company because there were so many party members who were waiting to be employed in the company.
Investigations by the Daily Nation revealed that Mr Imran Merchant first came to Zambia in June 2012 with the help of some Zambians with whom he was to operate the PF company.However, the business relationship with PF did not work and they parted company.Mr Merchant worked for Dharni Sampda Pvt. Ltd in Mumbai India and he came to work for a company known as Taurian Manganese which was incorporated in 2010 and started its operations on November 20th 2010 in Luapula Province.
Further investigations by the Nation have revealed that Mr Merchant has since moved from Mambilima Road in Rhodes Park to Mass Media Housing Complex off Thabo Mbeki road in Lusaka.
Mr Merchant had associated himself with people at the top and for them it was not surprising that he found himself as a foreigner to be one of the shareholders in Ilunda Chalo Ltd.
The source however said this development was sad because the two senior party officials did not tell other party members the truth.
[Daily Nation]
Red lips kabimba your fellow PF chaps are now stripping of everything Sata gave you in your life .But at least you still have Masebo by your side.
I wonder whether she will still be giving her coz he has nothing to offer. He has also been fired. As weak as her…lolest
Surely how can a political party register a private company to compete for business opportunities with private citizens.
Can the probe also list which companies are doing business with this same Ilunda Chalo? I am 100% certain it will be mostly, if not all, Govt lead business and thereafter can someone distinguish the difference between this and corruption or indeed abuse of office?
Ilunda Chalo Ltd busy milking taxpayers money, grabbing all lucrative contracts…..etc One day, just one day, the truth will be there for all to see. Where is untoucheable Kabimba now? No honor among thiefs.
Ok……… So now you couldn’t come up With substancial concreet allegations to push in the last nail but this? Kwena you are evil!!!!!!
At least Winter has balls! I can’t stand weak men!
Ilunda Chalo alunda ubwafya kuli Wynter.
Corruption!! Corruption!! Corruption!! Yes, how can my company compete for business with this scrup of “Ilunga Chalo.” This is the backward way of doing things….thieving!!!
Just stinking corruption written all over this dodgy company…these are the selfsame companies that disappear once the ruling party gets kicked out…it happened with UNIP; lets be open and transparent show us the contracts of this firm.
ebupuba ndanda ububwine. Ilunda chalo has three share holders and it is not a secret. Go to PACRO and you will find the names of Mr.Sata,Mr.Merchant and a Mr.Kabimba.Am just wondering why you all want to pounce on one or two men and leave out the third.Mr.Sata is also among the shareholders, why aren’t you accusing him of dubious acts by not telling his fellow party members about the operations of the company.Be fair and don’t just pile sh!t on one or two people when they are clearly three involved.This is tantamount to ubupuba!!everyone now wants to jump on Wynter.I never liked kabimba also but i will not subscribe to such juvenile behavior of following lies and deceptions perpetrated by a wicked cabal of guileful,inauspicious and mendacious subsistence of the lower echelons of life
Has the said company been awarded any contract by the GRZ? Can smell a rat here.
Zamtrop account style. Sata is the biggest thief!!!
mwandi niwe wasosa, na sata wiine nankwe ni kawalala, if they will arrest kabimba for ilunda chalo, the other two share holders should also go in.
Aba mwange ka bwala uyu….!!!
Initially we were made to believe this was a private company and not a party company. Hope tenders were fairly awarded after declaration of interest when we consider that majority of influential members on tender boards are ruling party loyalists.
Lungu should not be involved in the dubious Ilunda Chalo LTD, sounds dirty business.
He has to take it as we learn in first class of business studies: SEPARATE ENTITIES.
Lungu is also a criminal. He was debarred from practicing law after he stole a client’s money.
How can a debarred lawyer be Minister for Justice are they no credible lawyers out there?
Well as has now become common, a lawyer in the diaspora was offered the job of MOJ but he politely declined.
Let them probe each other.
The next government will use that information to arrest all of them. I have never seen a bunch of dunderheads as this PF leadership.
The speed at which the PF is moving to investigate initiate investigations is very disappointing. They are dealing with very shrewd people and by the time they wake up they will find all the information has disappeared.
Mr. Chikwanda already said “Pay back the K14 billion”: there is also the Trafigura case which is straight forward. Why not start there?
Even the police are too slow. Up to now they have no information on the leaked classified document!!!
Oh!! So the Hon. Minister of Finance has changed his mind. We got the impression that the Ministry was not in support of DBZ collecting the money after the then DBZ MD Dr Mwenda was fired for objecting to withdrawing the case from court. Well, that is good. Tax payers must get that money back. What collateral was pledged for this loan? Let the court order its forfeiture if the borrowers fail to pay back. There should be no sacred cows. Someone was reported jailed recently for stealing 3 chickens. Just imagine.
How can a ruling party have a registered and operating limited company?
How can the conflicts of interests and corruption be avoided in such a case ?
This story is one of the reasons why African governments will keep on being mediocre in the way they deliver services and govern their citizens. Playing double standards is the name of the game. As long as weak policies remain at play, true generational developmental changes shall keep on evaporating in thin air.
Great questions!!!
And yet if you follow the link above you will see the Veep says there is “nothing sinister” about PF forming a limited company. In fact, he told Parliament in 2012 that it is just OK for PF to have a limited company for fund raising because MMD and UNIP did the same thing.
Hello, MMD and UNIP?!?!?! Now what was that about corruption and conflicts of interest? People voted for change, Guy……. remember?
Yes they can. The Namibian ruling party SWAPO has businesses all over Namibia including 50% shares in Multi-Choice Namibia, Namibia Diamonds (Namdeb), Scorpion Zinc Mine, MTC the mobile company and just about every other business sector in Namibia. They even have there own weekly paper Swapo Today. It is not illegal.
#Chete, have you seen where Swapo has busines interest? ” Multi-Choice Namibia, Namibia Diamonds (Namdeb), Scorpion Zinc Mine, MTC the mobile company “. But our Ilunda Chalo has deals from govt such as road construction , even as petty as supplying. These Illunda Chalo, could have been dealing in 4th Mobile company, Manufacturing, Mining and serious farming, like Zambeef, whose clients are common people like you and me, who need these services. But, just have one client, called Govt its pure corruption. how many jobs have they created ?. even UNIP had companies like Mulungushi Bus, and that fishing company in Mpulungu, whose clients are ordinary citizen. so you Namibia example is not the good.
Confusion in PF. Hence both Sata and Kabimba are under scrutiny and Lungu will soon be relieved of his duties.
@Skeleton
you have the eagle’s eye. Sata will soon realise he is more vulnerable without Wynter. Edgar is treading on very dangerous grounds and mark my words he’s not gona last on that position(SG)
What does the law say about a political party running a company?
Poor Wynter! Just when he thought all was going for him with someone who knew him better than his own father, whoops, he is out in the cold with only the Post Newspaper to give him solace. Can somebody bring him to say something for himself? It is so unlike him to be so mute on such “important” issues.
……..Lungu and team must take it easy and slow down on Kabimba. The rate at which they are going ‘burying’ their colleague(WK) is alarming. They are slowly making those who disliked WK start sympathising with him. His ‘firing’ is enough damage and humiliation. These other follow up issues are supposed to be done quietly and in civilised and humane manner. The public can only be engaged after irregularities are found and proved….otherwise at this stage we are not interested in the operation of a fraudulent private company…..there can never be a level playing field in any tender process where Ilunda whatever is invited to participate. As a public, we can only be interested if ACC had to probe the company not WK….WK is a director why should he hand over to Lungu..??
Totally agreed. Let ACC move in especially on the awarding of tenders and contracts. There is no way Ilunda Fimofimo could have been subjected to competitive bidding knowing who the directors are. There is a likelihood that there was a lot of fraudulent activities going on.
#Scritinizerer. Can’t agree more with you. Things change and we can’t really tell which way or what Sata can do including bringing back Wynter to tomorrow. We have no idea what is going on behind closed doors. As for Lungu, he needs to slow down besides not all of us including those in PF hate Wynter.
Iam Bemba, not PF and I like Wynter h is logical and systematic. Arrogant yes and stern were expected to run and balance such a big ship, so the arrogance was not completely undue.
Is there a shortage of qualified people to fill the vacant defence and justice portfolios? Is it fair to burden Lungu with such vast responsibilities? As I see it he will be forced to focus more on PF party administration and neglect the two ministries.
A ruling party with a party run business equals conflict of interests,a compromised and unprofessional civil service and possible corruption.All this from a party that is supposedly allergic to corruption and persecuting RB for unproved shady oil business.
Fi PF if you are stealing our money through this fake company just know that we will jail you. I support PF but when it comes to thieving I am no respecter of thieves. So hear and very good , we shall jail every body found wanting …..
Unless PF is in cohorts with Wynter this can seriously backfire because no man is an island. There is no way winter did all he is being accused of alone!
power is back in safe hands. Power belongs to the east because we are not tribalists. We dont steal like bembas.
Power is back in safe hands. Power belongs to the east
This is just unacceptable. We can’t allow these maggots get away with this. No wonder the economy is at a stand still. Chellah is stealing, Sata and his boys including the wife are all at it. How can the country progress? Now you have this Kabimba game?
Wynter Kabimba, Guy Scott, Fred Mmembe, Mutembo Nchito, Inonge Wina, Masebo, Chieftainess Nkomeshya, their financier Dr. Mathani and other cryptic members of the PF’s A-Team, are strongly advised to thoroughly read Chimua Achebe’s novel titled:”THINGS FALL APART”.
The rainfall pattern in Lusaka will never always be exactly 800 mm per annum on each successive year. There is bound to be some elements of climatic change. These are issues of life very few Zambians will comprehend.
I am beginning to think the firing of Kabimba is a Sata trick to trap some unsuspecting and overzealous presidential hopefuls. (hope fools) I don’t think Sata can abandon Wynter to this level. Lets wait and see.
This is a conduit of PF used to divert public money to itself – pure corruption! Oh dear! They are awarding govt contracts to themselves and you would think the country had any laws.I wwould like to think there is nothing wrong with a political party forming a company (a political party is a private company in itself) but to use it to get govt contracts is the worst form of corruption.
When the ZWD first told us about the existence of this company I thought they were probably just making things up. And this is going to be ugly because as I understand it this company is actually Sata and Kabimba’s personal partnership company. And we haven’t even heard about the Janjaweed connection yet. Brace yourself for more scandalous revelations.
How can the perpetrator also be the prosecutor? It’s like eating a stolen pot of nsima with your best friend and then then threatening to expose him after falling out.
This is funny!!
Dear Mr. Sata, you cannot be a sitting President, duly elected, and be a shareholder in a company that is getting government contracts. Your company has undue advantage over any competitor by virtue of its ties to you. Pure corruption if one were able to smell it.
this is daylight robbery by the pf guys