President Edgar Lungu has disregarded ongoing corruption investigations into the awarding of the communication towers construction project to Huawei and awarded the Chinese firm phase two of the project valued at US$65 million.
The Parliamentary Committee of Communications raised alarm after it emerged that ZICTA was in the process of awarding the contract for phase two of the project to Huawei despite glaring irregularities in the implementation of phase one.
This was after the Anti-Corruption Commission launched investigation into the rural telecom towers project undertaken by China’s Huawei.
The ACC wanted to establish whether there was corruption in the manner the contract was awarded to Huawei by ZICTA.
The first phase was launched in April last year and involved the installation of 169 telecom towers in rural areas across the country at a total cost of USD 13.5 million.
But a study by the Consumer Unity Trust Society revealed that communication towers in rural areas do not meet technical or legal requirements.
The towers are said to fall short of the 5 km macro-coverage radius specified by ZICTA in the bid document, with coverage of most of the installed towers reported at 1.63 km.
The ACC launched the investigation after reports that ZICTA had gone with Huawei for the second phase of the project, despite indications that erected towers fail to meet specifications.
The Parliamentary Committee Chairman Vitalis Mooya stated that ZICTA was not being sincere, prudent and transparent in the manner it has handled the project.
In a news statement, ZICTA admitted that the authority is aware that the towers being erected do not meet the specifications, but that they have reached an agreement with Huawei to rectify the problem.
During his just concluded state visit to China, President Lungu who met Huawei Senior Vice President Mr. Dafeng Li in Shenzhen, China acknowledged that there were irregularities in the first phase of the project.
“There are some contracts you are executing for our people, which I must bring to your attention which are dissatisfactory, going by the nature of complaints Zambians have echoed through their elected representatives in Parliament. In this regard, I am talking about communication towers,” President Lungu said.
President Lungu later witnessed the signing of two memorandums of understanding (MOUs) between Zambia and Huawei.
Am I dreaming or what? Honestly speaking what is Lungu doing?
Its a mess that is how broke governments behave. If there is a probe going on, why be desperate? You never know may be he too had a cut. So to me ACC is only working for individuals that are not PF or have turned against PF and this is a sad development. These institutions are just mere institutions wasting tax payers money for nothing. I am not UPND or any other but the way PF and Lungu are handling the country is terrible. We are yet to see the waste kind of these vision-less President
Hey, stop those rankings you retrogressive forces! There’s no story here to stop phase 2 of the project going to the same company. If you understand construction projects you’ll know that deviations from specifications occur either as a mistake on the part of the contractor, or by mutual agreement with the client. And when it’s the contractors fault we ask them to demolish the noncompliant installations with the correct ones at their own cost! This happens all the time between you and the guy building your house or even your tailor and does not necessarily amount to corruption at all times. Please find something else to condemn
SORRY; “… Noncompliant installations AND REPLACE THEM with the correct ones…..”
CONTINUATION: In ALL service contracts, contractors will ALWAYS try to maximize profits by employing various shortcuts, and that’s why government’s INSPECTORATE units should constitute competent and reliable people to detect and correct these things to enable Zambians get value for money. But if the government inspector is incompetent they won’t even know the difference between a tower of 5km and a 1.6km radius of coverage – they just be admiring the Chinese acrobatics skills of climbing onto the tower and clapping sheepishly.
@Wanu Ngwee
No wonder you no longer in circulation. You seem to be one of these educated scatter brains walking the corridors of PF
Everything at the moment smells corruption.
Basket mouth :
Lungu is signing agreements while you cry day in day out on Lusaka Times in Diaspora. These are developed countries build by other people for you to enjoy today.
When I read articles like this, one thought comes to mind, “micromanaging.” This is something the minister of the relevant ministry that deals with communication should be doing and not the president. Why has Huawei been awarded this contract if there was suspicion of corruption and with an investigation pending. If the work done by Huawei on the towers falls below the required standard why have they again been awarded the contract? It is baffling.
Remember he collapsed
Don’t forget and vote wisely in 2016
Yes we will vote for Lungu nafuti nafuti. Better a corrupt Bemba or Easterner than any tonga (good or bad) to rule Zambi
Force you are an *****. what is good with bemba or easterner, you dont have manners
Lungu won’t stand in 2016 coz he is sick and am sure his condition will be worse in 2016 so he won’t aspire and so we’ll vote the PF candidate who will stand
How can he fight corruption if he is the one circumventing the efforts of the ACC?
Unbelievable. How can a president stoop so low to directly deal with company. The minister was good enough. By the lungu, people need sustainable jobs not towers. I fear for my beloved country. This kaponya of a president wil bring all down, if there is a way to impeach him, please lets do so as soon as possible. He has time for stupid events but not for more serious things like the damaged economy
Let’s dissolve ZICTA. Its influenced by HH. You cant go on debating you need action. This is action. We need things to happen.
We can always increase the coverage later. We cant afford delays due to fruitless, HH driven probes.
Has ACC commenced investigations?
I suppose the matter was not investigated yet let alone even go thru an inquiry, which is the preliminary step!
The Parliamentary Committee is not ACC itself. But if ACC had commenced an investigation then Lungu would be wrong.
However is if you follow the PAC views its ZICTA who was at fault for failure to monitor and enforce a simple contract!
The contract can be made to correct such at own cost during defects liability period and certification cannot be done if ZICTA is sincere and not the President.
Now Who do you think appoints the head of ZICTA and ACC? Now if you have the whole Head of State overseeing such ceremonies do you really think the heads of these government departments will disappoint their “appointer”?? Think think…use your brain its there for a reason.
Short cuts
Remember Sata always breached our constitution Lungu is doing the same
He is pushing these contracts so that he gets his 10%. It is money in his pocket.
Now that I am totally convinced beyond reasonable doubts that you elected the wrong person, let me ask, “Does he have presidential advisors or he runs a country with about 15 million people as a personal investment?”. With all due respect to him, he also needs to appear before investigating authority. Lungu is totally myopic to say the least.
The lazy man has no shame and no respect for protocol…in all honesty how can a Republican president be having talks with a mere corporation vice president when you have ministers there…why? His signature was not required there…old man Sata though a myopic leader as well; he would never tolerate such folly…we need to examine these contracts there is some wrong with these pictures.
The background reads “memorandum of understanding signing and future seed donation ceremony”???
Even if people say all leaders are chosen by God, I think this saying is 100% not true about Edgar Lungu.
Edgar Lungu was chosen by Lucifa to torment the people of Zambia.
But thank God HH is now warming up so that he can lead us up to 2026.
Zambians should wake up and demonstrate against President Lungu.
MPs should help us to demand the resignation of the Impotent President.
Lungu must go.
Edgar Lungu is doing evil things against Zambians because he knows that he will be dead man by December 2016.
Edgar Lungu is a casket in waiting.
Embassy Park will be your homeland.
Let ECL work you cry babies in opposition mostly in tribal UPND!!before 20/01/2015 you told the world that your tribal HH has already won,but who won?PF!so even in 2016,PF will 100% win!!!where in africa can a ruling party lose to opposition after 1 term in office?do u think Govnt officials are f00ls for them to let go power?see how PF is trying to implement projects across Zambia as a way of attracting votes!!a lot of villagers today are paid K280 social cash and they’re too happy.roads,clinics,hospitals,etc are being done.all these will win PF votes!!SO KEEP ON DREAMING YOU GUYS IN OPPOSITION!!IN 2016 U’LL BE DEFEATED PANTS DOWN BY PF!!
Who doesn’t get sick in this world ? Lungu is doing very well and we shall vote for him again in 2016 no matter how many times you mock or insult him…..EL 2016 and beyond.
Joseph, this is really sad that you have such an attitude. Be objective in your analysis. No one hates Lungu bit the concern is that he is not upto the task and his character is questionable. If you don’t see things like that then it’s unfortunate
I think this is a strange decision by the president. Either way the towers dont meet the required specifications. And clearly the problem is Huawei, as mentioned by the president. I see some of you are saying we continue with poor workmanship and correct it later? Therefore prolonging the project and running the risk of the contractor abandoning the project. Which in my view is quite smart.
And you wonder why some roads are re-tarred after just two years of being laid by contractors?
We need Road and Digital infrastructure,…even moderately faulty ones.
In all developments, cyclical phases are there to put in place and correct afterwards. Iteration in the development phases is to be expected.
Nothing untoward with repairs to laid down Roads.
We are building ‘economy’ class roads because that is all we can afford.
One of the reasons the PF was voted into power was its stance on corruption but now you have a situation where the Minister appoints the ZESCO MD and takes him to China to sign a contract on behalf of the Ministry of Energy. Why is he afraid of using government officials at the Ministry of Energy? Since when did ZESCO, a parastatal, become a department under the Ministry of Energy? It is indeed a case of from the frying pan (MMD) into the fire (PF). In other words the MMD’s corruption is paling in comparison with that of the PF.
GOOD OBSERVATION SENIOR ENGINEER. SOMETHING FISHY HERE. WHY DIDNT A DIRECTOR FROM THE MINISTRY SIGN AND NOT ZESCO MD?? OR EVEN ANOTHER MINISTER COULD HAVE SIGNED. USELESS KALABA WAS THERE. LUBINDA ZAYELO WAS THERE. MANY OTHERS WERE THERE. MULUSA WAS THERE ETC. SOMETHING FISHY (ROTTEN ONE) HERE!
Exactly and our journalists are sleeping ….investigative journalism is dead in Zambia…one wonders how many people had gone to China.
You have said it very well! PF really is disgusting with their corrupt ways!
The LT story is misleading. The actual story is: “Ministry of Transport, Works, Supply and Communications permanent secretary Charles Sipanje signed the first MoU on ICT training for Zambia while Zesco managing director Victor Mundende signed the one on the construction of communication towers and off-grid power plants”. My comments were based on the LT story. What makes the contract relevant to ZESCO are the off-grid power plants.
An epileptic rogue can never do anything progressive!!!! za,bia will be deprived of all its resources
Edgar is a lazy man who is sleeping at this point…there is nothing we can do about…you can take a horse to a pond to drink water but you can not force it….so is Edgar’s laziness, you can not force him to work 12 hours a day when he has never done so or 60 hour week.
Next time you are losing signal in rural Zambia remember these selfsame contracts.
Zambians will continue receiving substandard services especially in telecoms due to corruption…I told you to observe closely how business will flourish between these companies President Lazy personally visited in China; the empty tin has already received his kickback he wouldn’t careless about ACC investigations, this is a lazy man who is not ashamed to surround himself with known corrupt entities.
Just look at that photo he was not even supposed to be there as its his minister of energy who is signing on the papers…why was he there? Thats who cheap the office of the Zambian President has become.
Nonsense. @Jay Jay!
Zambians will continue receiving substandard services especially in telecoms due to corruption…BECAUSE WE DO NOT HAVE THE REVENUE FOR NECESSARY INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENTS…BE THEY, DIGITAL OR PHYSICAL ROAD NETWORKS.
Wake up. We are a developing country trying to overcome our very dark past when our economy completely crumbled. We just do not have the revenue for your ‘fantasy’ Western like infrastructure right now. We need to have moderately good roads to rejuvenate and facilitate economic development countrywide. We need Digital infrastructure so that we can have E- Voting as you and UPND folks keep singing day and night every election season. With those in place we can look to a healthier economy and we move to Middle Income.
This is really sad! et the same Lungu has established a tribunal against Mutembo on trumped up charges. It’s no wonder they are good freinds with RB because they are both inherently corrupt. Guy Scott tried his best to prevent this guy from going to stae house but you called him names. We are going nowhere with Lungu as the president; he is there just to eat (“kudya nakusheta”, as Bikiloni would say)
Ok ladies and gentlemen, the whole lot of the republican President – incharge of a tower project, what a cheap Head of State. Sorry to say this cos the illogical party is Huawei is being represented by its Vice President. A Head of State cannot equal a CEO or Company presisent.
Victor Mudende appears to have been changing clothes during the signing ceremony. He also went for a hair cut before signing more documents. However, in the background, it says ‘future seeds donation ceremony?? Bizarre, if you ask me.
Hahaha, LOL @ Saimbwende, I also noticed that. Really strange… must be some poor editing from LT.
Gents I really have to say this country is a failed state, just looking at what is happening.
It is seed money for PF campaign in 2016….!!
Swallow this bitter pill. Zambia has never gotten the right presidency since independence.
Huawei, disliked by a Western Countries as mount great challenge to their Telecoms industry.
I expect some opposition Politicians to throw a spanner in the works as they try to slow down developments in an effort to have a campaign based on pulling PF down for ‘failure.’
Two things, the shortages in km have been noted, pointed out and a plan in place to deal with complaints. Secondly, complaints on whether contracts given to Huawei, were above board should not delay Communications development. We need to meet with digital infrastructure like…yesterday! It’s okay to overlook intellectual mind games for the sake of advancement. Our President is moving and shaking all openings in light of our economy’s performance currently.
Presidents deal with counterparts. President Lungu should never have witnessed this signing unless it was by the Chinese Government. Huawei, Star Times. ZTE are all companies owned by individuals. Sadly, Huawei commits it’s Vice President to jointly witness the signing. How sad? Where are the protocol people to have excused the president? No diplomacy was required to stand out. All Chinese companies are corrupt. The minimum they offer individuals for such projects is US$200,000. Only Star Times competes cleanly without financial arms twisting. The $65 is funded by the Exim Bank of China at 7 percent (net) interest. Huwaei will get its payment directly and leave the struggle for repayment to Zambian Government and the state owned Exim bank.
Chinese xinhua news reports that Victor Mundende , ZESCO Managing director was drunk in shenzhen and insulted Huawei LEADERS in fron of senior Government officials , the chinese have since asked for an apology from the MD failure to which they will withdraw or deliver substandards towers again
Sadly when corruption and bribery is high, standards in all areas are compromised. The agreeing parties have gotten what they wanted and after that they are not really interested in the job completion. These huge contracts attract huge kickbacks, cars, houses etc. It is so sad that this country is corrupt from the top and everyone has jumped onto the bandwagon. The other day I saw a guard at Arcades receive money from a motorist so that the latter could go through a “no entry road.”the guard then promptly blocked the entry to any other motorist. This is how low we have gotten. Sadly, there is always someone willing to bribe so the rot continues.
Another correction, the multi facility zone project was signed by a senior offial of the chinese company to execute the project and a senior Zambian government official, with the blessings of the Chinese government. Now hear this, the ceremony was witnessed by President Mwanawasa. Was there anything with protocol then?
The contract for off grid power was signed by Zesco MD and a representative of the relevant Chinese company. Now in Chinese practice, business deals are facilitated at government level and executed at company level. Again do you see anything wrong with that?