MINISTER of Works and Supply, Kapembwa Simbao, has black-listed Tomorrow Investments Limited and its directors and directed the National Council for Construction (NCC) not to renew the construction firm’s 2008 contractor registration certificate because the firm had performed badly.
Mr Simbao said Tomorrow Investments Limited was registered with NCC in 2005 when the authority began registering contractors.
The firm had fulfilled the gazetted NCC contractor registration requirements and there had been no documented adverse performance reports from clients and supervising consultants.
The minister who was speaking at a press briefing in Lusaka yesterday, however, said the NCC must reject the application by Tomorrow Investments Limited to have their certificate renewed for 2008.
He said the firm had not yet submitted for renewal its NCC contractor registration certificate.
“It should be noted, however, that Tomorrow Investments has of today 8th January, 2008 (yesterday) not renewed their 2008 certificate.
Should they apply for renewal, the NCC will decline such registration in view of their demonstrated poor past performance and conduct,” Mr Simbao said.
The refusal of registration would also apply to any joint venture partners who undertook projects jointly with Tomorrow Investments Limited in the recent past and other contractors whose performance had been classified as poor.
The minister warned that the firm’s directors and joint venture partners would be held liable for prosecution individually and severally for any payments they received without any corresponding delivery of products and services.
Similarly, consultants and Government professionals found to have certified works of poor workmanship would be liable for prosecution and suffer commensurate sanctions.
“Such directors who shall be held for poor performance of their companies shall equally be excluded from future consideration by NCC even in the other companies that they may form or join,” he said.
All contractors whose applications would not be accepted this year and in future, would be advised of their shortfalls by the NCC and in compliance with the law, no unregistered contractor would be eligible for award of any Government contract.
Mr Simbao warned that contractors, consultants and clients found abrogating the provisions of the contract would be dealt with severely.
The minister said he had no idea who the directors of Tomorrow Investments Limited were and urged Zambians to report instances of poor performance to NCC without hesitation.
The Office of the Auditor-General on Monday began a project audit on Tomorrow Investments Limited to establish why the firm still received Government contracts despite doing shoddy works.
The probe follows President Mwanawasa’s order for an audit of the construction firm, which was doing badly.
Meanwhile, Public Accounts Committee chairperson, Charles Milupi, has revealed that the tender committee of the Ministry of Works and Supply awarded Tomorrow Investments Limited the Katima Mulilo Bridge contract against Mr Simbao’s advice.
Mr Milupi said this in Lusaka yesterday at the OAG media workshop on reporting expenditure and financial accountability.
Mr Milupi, however, said Tomorrow Investments was not the only company that did not perform well in year 2005 but that all companies working on capital projects performed badly.
He said none of the capital projects undertaken in the year 2005 were done properly because the projects were not completed on time, were of substandard quality, and outside the projected cost.
“None of the road projects were completed according to these three elements, this has slowed down the rate of development,” Mr Milupi said.
He cited the Katima Mulilo Bridge border project, Chirundu Bridge Border infrastructure, Mongu-Kalabo road, Mbesuma Bridge and the Nakonde-Kanyala road among others.
He was concerned that a number of contracts entered into with some contractors in the year 2005 disadvantaged Government.
He said there was a provision for advance payments in some contracts, which resulted in the payment of some companies, which who could not perform.
Mr Milupi said companies that were awarded Government contracts should perform without going back to Government for advance payments.
Government contracts were bankable and that financial institutions would be willing to give them loans on account of that.
He also said reports that K900 billion was not utilised in the 2007 national budget was a national scandal, which must shame everyone associated with it.
He said under-spending was just as bad as over-spending.
“In terms of budgetary management, what you say will be done needs to be done,” Mr Milupi said.
Auditor General, Anna Chifungula said the issue of the K900 billion unutilised money in the 2007 national budget would become an audit query if the money were not spent by March 31, 2008.
She explained that it takes three months for Government cheques to become stale and that there could be some payments yet to be made.
“That will become an audit query after March because the Budget will be out and the coffers will be clear. If the money is still there, we believe it will still be used,” Ms Chifungula said.
[Daily Mail]
Hon. Minister,
Could you tell us the Directors of the this Company. And where were you when your officers and officers from the NCC, ZNTB where awarding contracts to this company? I want to believe that there are procedures to be followed before money can released and i know the Republican President is not any where in this chain. So can we have all the pipo who had a hand in this matter hanged or fired, they have failed to perform. It surely should not take the president to notice this rot.
This the result of ‘nichekeleko’ culture. Most tenders awarded to private contractors are not on merit. Heads should also roll at Tender Board. No wonder investors are dumping local suppliers ‘coz of failure to deliver.
The govt should also blacklist Professional Insirance Corp.
This is good news, but we still see some cover here. Mr Simbao We know you are a good ,minister but this is indicating that you have been a toothless bull dog. Why should it take Chuchu to travel on a bad road to make you act on this contractor.
I think u need to start packing your bags or Get busy.
When we talk about this country lacks management and not resources, Ka Kafupi and his stooges where busy disputing..viva Brain power viva UPND.
this is just a political fight against tomorrow investments. i do not believe the trash that they have been incompetent and it took govt this long to realize it. i guess there are procedures that are followed before a monies are paid to a contractor and i refuse to believe that tomorrow maanaged to obtain the alleged funds flouting precedure…..no way! and why should the entire president be the one to come down so hard on a small entity as tomorrow investments? It is time Zambians got united…
……and supported local investors. let us not allow selfish politicians to make us fight one another.
……and supported local investors. let us not allow selfish politicians to make us fight one another.
I now see the path to a glorious return to sanity. We are headed into the right direction with LPM. All these crooks FTJ brought should be hanged. This should be extended to crooked investors like RSZ.
Zambia shall rise again. And all crooks will soon see the light and throw away their bad ways.
How can you cal Tomorrows Investment a small company with such a yearly Turnover.
We still want to know the Directors of TI and other Business they are associated with. We need to make example of such characters the same way we are dealing with Thief KAFUPI.
I am still waiting for ACC to start probing Mathani and his deals with GOVT…or we shall wait till LPM is out and then nail them together.
iwe ka mojo(#5), what do you mean LPM is coming down hard on the little entity? Perhaps u are also a beneficiary 4rm this nonsense. You wonder why it took so long? The MInister does not run the ministry operationally day to day, he handles policy issues, so it’s possible for the makaka PS to sweep things under the rug. If Simbao, hadn’t been a vigilant chap, none of this would have come out. So mojo mwaice, stop behaving like a monk…
I agree with Big Poppa.. Simbao is a thorn in the ass of the RDA from information on the ground. However we need him to step up his awareness.
Mojo is diplaying serious theft syndrome. There is no theft which is small. All theft is criminal mwaiche..Teach that to you sons and daughters and they wont end up like Chiluba and yourself.Mwaiche you are bound for Jail soon if u don’t change.
kwashala ba Sable contractors, those chaps have also been doing some shoddy works and they’ll be next in line
I have always said that among the potential next Presidents of these country I see Kapembwa Simbao.
Citizen.. That is a tough call my friend. The Sata and HH machinery is already on the ground and getting stronger. Simbao is a light weight for now, give him some mre exposure in the center right. Only Katele can win it for the MMD for now, otherwise, the MMD is heading for a rude Shock… Katele will do a ZUMA and I hate it.
Even a blind person can see that corruption is the norm in awarding contracts in zambia. Don’t be myopic and pretend that corruption never happened. The ACC should investigate fully and culprits be brought to book. Why should it take the president to see the shody work? Something is fishy. This company must join the MMD,and it will be protected from future works. What a joke.
abena Citizen ( #13) I agree with HK (#14), presidential gymnastics is a whole different ball game. To date Levy doesn’t even have a preferred successor, what kind of succession planning is that. He’ll probably spring a surprise on us the way he did with Nevers, Rupiah etc
ba big poppa your brain is the exact opposite of your name…..small brain. how dare you jump to conclusions about things you have little or no knowledge about. Just take it from me that this all thing is political and it ain’t going nowhere.
……..and dare not compare me to a monk. am not in your class ok small brain big poppa #10.
mojo mwaice,let’s not deviate 4rm the issue at hand.The size of my brain is irrelevant,I’m simply not comfortable with your support of an entity that was paid billions but has nothing to show for it.It’s clear that the company managers and the civil servants tasked with monitoring these projects colluded to defraud the taxpayer(you & I)
When it requires the President to make things move then the institutions have gone to the dogs.In Chingola very shoddy work has been done on the Central Street and Kasompe Road,potholes are already up barely a month after the contractors “completed” the work and we have a highly paid DC and Council!
mojo,for the sake of maturity,I will not enter into a name calling competition on this wonderful forum…the beauty about anonymous blogging is that you can freely express yourself without fear of being manhandled by big poppa
so bola panshi mwana, let’s stick to rational debate and get to the bottom of this cancer known as corruption.
good day big poppa……didn’t mean to discredit you. you are entitled to your own oppinion but believe me, you are wrong on this one. better learn to look at both sides of a coin and avoid jumping to conclusions. about manhandling me……mwachepa bane!
This another very sad story on how we Zambians operate. Do we real love our country? How can a local company behave like that when GRZ is talking of citizen empowerment. This is a let down. The police should investigate and arrest all thoe who are involved in this shadow work. Its not good countrymen. No yesterday listening to Radio I heard another disturbuting news about the Namwala Choma that Billions were released to construct it but up todate nothing has been done. Its a pity I have to say..
ctd… i 1997 I travelled on the same road and I found shabby work being done. When I asked the locals they told me Chiluba government had awarded a company to construct this load but nothing is happening. As though this is not enough my father said he had to sell hi Land rover he owned because he was spending alot of money on repairs of his vehicle because of pot holes. However he mentioned something that has been disturbing through out my life. This same road Kaunda promised to put Tarr mark..
ctd.. during his campaign for president in 1969. This was a time was not yet to be born. By next this will 40 years. What pipo who hold position understand by providing services to the pipo. When I we going to be serious about our conducts when it comes to use of our resources? You can imagine what development means when you keep on wasting resources. I arge the Zambian government to look in this problem. Namwala district is a an agriculture place with alot of potential. From fishing to farming.
ctd. You can find all this. If roads cannot be maintained or constructed you can by the best car and its lifespan can be go only to 6 months when it go work for 10 years. We have to be serios this corrupt practices should not be left in the hands of the president and the task force alone. It is duty of everyone to be involved. I having lived abroad I have seen development and you can compare. I appeal to the area MPs in the constituencies covering this areas to tighten their belts and bring dev.
ctd. elopment. We cannot continue going at this late we are doing this. Foreign aid is no long term solution because government change. We have to be proud of what we have and improve them inside of begging and waiting for help from outside. Zambia has a potential to sustain sound development. Zambians should be on the warfront to solve their problems.
The chaps are known. We shall get them and they will donate their Buckley Houses to the Government. After all their Cruise Boats and lakeshore lodges were appropriately grabbed. Viva free Speech !!!
#28 Mwana Muchende
Are these crooks from the FTJ gangster?
GLUCO happy new year!!!. Who is this Torromow Investment? Even the name itself explains exactly what they are.How can name yourself Tomorrow?
Easy! Happy new year to you too.
Where is the Zambia Bureau of Standard and the relevant enforcement organisations?
WAKE UP ZAMBIA BUREAU OF STANDARDS!!!!!!
This is too little too late and doesn’t warrant any praise from any one except gullible dunderheads. Heads must roll. Criminals must not escape the punishment they deserve.
Dont know which way I heard FTJ gave his person deliberations and asked the court to dismiss the case because its political. I wonder the our short man has stil some senses. He must sense of guilty just think of Carlington Maize scandal. When many Zambians were sleeping on empty stomachs, he and his cronies were busy diverting money meant for relief food. I ask this man to knee down and ask God for giveness in pray. I remind him of King Nebukadzar who was sent for 7 years to go and eat grass.
Fellow citizens i am appalled by the revelation on the activities of TI. You see I am one person who strongly believes that as Africans we are very capable of running our affairs in a competent, transparent and plausible manner, contrary to those who believe that only the west or whites are capable of good governance.People say that when white people commit fruad it is not as alarming as when we Africans do it. It is like we Africans are resigned to perpetual plunder and corruption…
However I hold different view we can actually run our affairs properly in a respectable manner. Are we not as human as any country that runs its government well. The recent revelations have only shown that someone is doing their Job. The institutions, policies relevant government departments have always being there to handle such issues. They have not been introduced by Mwanawasa no not all. So what we need are people who know how to do their jobs in these government institutions then…
Cont from 36: then we will not need the President to reveal that some dodgy company is stealing tax payers money. I repeat myself: we are just as human as any group people be it a country in Africa or abroad that run their affairs in an expedient manner, therefore we can also do it. I end here.
Uko!!!
Given welcome to politics 101 machevelli articulately explicated. I call i can advise you is that there is no free lunch.Chiluba’s blood money has a price.”The enemy of my friend is my friendy”
PF accuses Chiluba of plotting against Sata.
OPPOSITION Patriotic Front (PF) has alleged that former president Frederick Chiluba is ‘engineering’ a ‘coup’ against party president Michael Sata.
All i can advise you is that, there is no free lunch. Every service has a dividend unless one is a medevial era socialist. What blinds pawns like Given and freelance cadres is the principle of need to know among actors (secrecy). Chiluba’s blood money has a price tag which Sata should have known.”The enemy of my friend is my friend”
#39, you have just read the Post-online headlindes and you jump to conlusions like you know the stuff behind those innuendos. Chill ta, dont be full of empty rethoric. You are such a synical miff wit no agenda but to show off your peackock feathers worn off by many years of use. Bola panshi
The same should apply to the contractor(Turner Construction)working on roads in Chingola Nchanga North. Pleas probe this contractor, we want to know who gave them them contract and why. This people are not proffesionals, they have given us a raw deal in the new deal.
I was invited to come to zambia to work as a contracts manager for augustine katatobwe’s firm Tomorrow Investments.The firm was donor-funded to build six schools and six clinics, bridges and road works, across Zambia.The monies being put up by govt, the African Development Bank,Th
e Danish International development agency,to name just a few, On arrival 15th March 2005 at their offices [if that is what they can be called]I was astonished to find that my desk had no phone, no computer, no contact whatsoever to any of the thirteen sites that were currently running, and quite frankly an office staffed by well intentioned people who just did not know what they were doing….
I was invited to come to zambia to work as a contracts manager for augustine katatobwe’s firm Tomorrow Investments.The firm was donor-funded to build six schools and six clinics, bridges and road works, across Zambia.The monies being put up by govt, the African Development Bank,Th
e Danish International development agency,to name just a few, On arrival 15th March 2005 at their offices [if that is what they can be called]I was astonished to find that my desk had no phone, no computer, no contact whatsoever to any of the thirteen sites that were currently running, and quite frankly an office staffed by well intentioned people who just did not know what they were doing….
I was invited to come to zambia to work as a contracts manager for augustine katatobwe’s firm Tomorrow Investments.The firm was donor-funded to build six schools and six clinics, bridges and road works, across Zambia.The monies being put up by govt, the African Development Bank,Th
e Danish International development agency,to name just a few, On arrival 15th March 2005 at their offices [if that is what they can be called]I was astonished to find that my desk had no phone, no computer, no contact whatsoever to any of the thirteen sites that were currently running, and quite frankly an office staffed by well intentioned people who just did not know what they were doing….
or come to that when they would get paid. my investigations at that time gave me a picture of a one man band roofer who had ridiculous pretentions of thinking he could take on the big boys in the construction industry in zambia. To secure his contracts he lied to every one that he had to, I know he paid out to people in the ministeries of health and education to police and anyone that could be bought to suit his aims.His excellency the president was wrong in my opinion, to order the arbitrary arrest of Katatobwe. [that smacks of dictatorship]I say as a stalwart supporter of democracy,his Excellecy was morally right to express his concerns regarding Katatobwe…
but leave the issue to the judiciary and not parliament or any of it’s members. Zambia, it’s lawyers and polititians seem to be forgetting the constitutional doctrine of the ‘separation of powers,May katatobwe get his just deserts,and i repeat the word just. Long live a corrupt free zambia. Ilove the people the culture. God bless Zambia [email protected]
‘Concerned Citizen on the Copperbelt’ – How can you say that about Turner? Without such pipo as ba Turner Zambia must surely roast while the tail rots, and all that can come must be strife and misery.
you must be crazy. this is not a corrupt country. we are the victims of mercenaries like that one scott, who come here from europe trying to pillage the country and make a quick buck. we can do without these vultures.
2c1FII comment4 ,
Great. Now i can say thank you!
Beautiful site!
Im so surprised that this useless and corrupt headed brief case company still exits after plundering donor and GRZ resources in the then Northern province Chinsali in particular to an extent the then President LPM requested for audit and blacklisting of TI at a public meeting in Chinsali following numerous complains from stake holders and general public! Shame. If they dont know how to quote and manage projects they must try fishing in Bangweulu. lock up that thief and master forger ASAP
Im so surprised that this useless and corrupt headed brief case company still exits after plundering donor and GRZ resources in the then Northern province Chinsali in particular to an extent the then President LPM requested for audit and blacklisting of TI at a public meeting in Chinsali following numerous complains from stake holders and general public! Shame. If they dont know how to quote and manage projects they must try fishing in Bangweulu. lock up that thief and master forger ASAP OK IG?