Friday, March 29, 2024

All is well at Zambia Railways-Yaluma

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Tranport Minister Christopher Yaluma
Tranport Minister Christopher Yaluma

Transport, Communications, Works and Supply Minister Christopher Yaluma has moved to allay reports of a power rift at Zambia Railways Limited involving Managing Director Professor Clive Chirwa and the board over corruption at the railway firm.

“These reports of a rift are exaggerated. The situation is okay and everything is operating normally,” Mr. Yaluma said in an interview.

When pressed further, Mr. Yaluma explained, “Professor Chirwa remains C.EO and he is not going anywhere. I know of those problems with the board but those things are normal in any organisation and so they should not be exaggerated.”

“As Minister of Transport, I am firmly in control of the situation at Zambia Railways.”

Mr. Yaluma said reports that Professor Chirwa had been suspended by the board were unfounded and a creation by people interested in causing confusion at Zambia Railways.

“What I know is that the board never made such a decision to suspend the CEO and that is the correct position,” he said.

“Yes some people want to see us fail on this project so they will try to cause confusion and derail us but we remain focused as government on delivering on the promise to transform Zambia Railways.

On the issue of board members demanding inflated allowances, Mr. Yaluma said allowances are normal and they should be paid as per entitlement.

[pullquote]“The K 500 million for each member is crazy. I cannot sanction that payment. I would be fired by State House if I ever sanctioned those huge allowances. What I have approved is in the range of K 7 million per sitting per member and that is in line with most parastatals,” he said.[/pullquote]

“The K 500 million for each member is crazy. I cannot sanction that payment. I would be fired by State House if I ever sanctioned those huge allowances. What I have approved is in the range of K 7 million per sitting per member and that is in line with most parastatals,” he said.

But highly placed sources at the company revealed that Professor Chirwa was barred from going ahead with his planned news last Monday at which he planned to expose the corruption at the company.

“What happened is that after the story went out that some board members want Professor out, Government heard that he was going to have a news conference on the same and they managed to somehow calm him and he cancelled the news conference,” the sources said.

They said the news conference was intended to blow the lid on the rampant corruption going on at the company and on the reasons why Finance Director Regina Mwale was sent on forced leave.

“It appears Professor compromised after the Minister intervened, he is now back in the office and working normally but we understand he has made a list of demands to the Minister. He wants Regina reinstated immediately and he wants certain board members dropped,” the source said.

90 COMMENTS

  1. All isnt well! It will soon boil-over at Board level cos of some cadres appointed to it.
    Please weed out the Mposa mabwe who ‘ate’ Indeco Ltd to extinction.

    • Too right. ALL IS NOT WELL, JUST ANOTHER PF LIE!

      These people are quarreling over how much money they are getting before they have done ANYTHING to get ZR right!

      This government will go down in history as the most corrupt and incompetent one Zambia has ever had, even worse than 27 years UNIP.

    • No mention of the director of finance…COME ON CHIRWA SHOW THEM THE POWER OF THOUGHT PROCESS AND NOBILITY 🙂

  2. Let the president question mr minister if he is involved in corrupt board members who are demanding heft allowances without work. We borrowed money to rebuild zr and someone want allowances just for sitting down with a cup of tea? Mr minister the president commanded pipo to work to get paid and he stopped the govt workers from making meeting just to get allowance but to work. Fire those corrupt board members.

  3. Stand firm Prof. on that one! We are with you all the way! I feel sad that certain elements want to frustrate such a distinguished fellow who means well for a troubled company! I think on this one, we need to roast someone’s balls! lekeni Chirwa abombe bakapoli imwe!

  4. I think the Minister has glossed over this issue and am afraid this issue could be persistent in all parastals and it is juts that Prof Chirwa challenged it.

    K7 million per sitting allowance is too much, that is like $1 300 for just sitting for a couple of hours and this happens in all parastatals. These boards could easily rake up many sitting sessions. I think there ought to be a flat anual fee and not this per sitting thing. Who knows maybe ZRL board sat 70 times and that could easily come to K 500 million per person. I think we have a deeply flawed system rewarding people for just sitting.

    E.g, What can Father Bwalya contribute to ZESCO as a board member- Praying for rains for Kariba Dam and earning K7m? Give me a break

    • Just as you have rightly pointed out about the number of sittings, just imagine that MMD operated in this manner for the past twenty years. No wonder it was practically difficult to develop anything under MMD. Good job Chirwa for exposing such inadequacies.

    • You are right. This is what we talk about when we say government priorities are misplaced. How can you pay a board member K7 miilion for drinking coffee when patients in hospitals and university students are sleeping on the floor. This is absurd!

    • Walasa! My brother is a medical Doctor in a rural town of Luapula Province and earns less K10 million per month where he is exhausted by many patients of about 500-2000 he attends in a month.But this Anyandules make K7 million for one or two hour sitting in a boardroom doing nothing but sipping cups of tea and coffee one after another.
      This is too much in our country with with weak economy.

    • The Sitting allowance at Board Meetings during the MMD was K1,500,000 or Kr1,500. per sitting for a Chairman and Kr1,200 for members. It was never K7m. This came with more money in your pocket.

    • My thoughts exactly! K7m for just sitting and fatting in a board room for a couple of hours?That’s a salary for 2 civil servants! Give the bums K500 per sitting,take it or leave it after all it is just part time most of them are already rich.Are these i.di.ots really serious about revamping the operations of ZR?

    • I agree with you chief. At K7m per sitting they only need 71 meetings to get that K500m each. Zambia Railways cannot afford this…period.

    • Bootlicker–I hear your points, but disagree on your views of Fr. Bwalya. He reads widely and he is made of steel when it comes to leadership. He was once a Chair for the MISA board, he was stealthy, thorough and incorruptible. Journalists hated him for what they termed rigidness. Remember that skills and leadership are transferable, Zesco is in good hands with him on the board.

  5. Yaluma must be serious. Doesn’t he know that a sitting allowance of K7,000,000 is significantly higher than the monthly salaries pf many graduates? Isn’t this a “Marie Antoinette Let them eat cake” syndrome he is displaying?

    • True..Yaluma I have respect for you, but you saying you are in control when these chaps are getting K 7 mill is a joke,reduce the amount and if they dont want serve on the board then they can hang…

  6. Indeed it is great to hear that development.Minister we know for sure that everything is under control.However if the Board misbehaves we will deal with them

  7. K7000,000 that’s too much pay for simply seating and pretending to understand what’s being talked about.

  8. all is well??? is it mr minister? really!!!
    But ok lets face it, 7million per sitting is still too much,,, zambia railway is bankrupt..
    and where to do find 7million in poverty stricken zambia to pay people who just sit around drinking coffee?

    When is the electric train coming?? what`s the progress so far?????

  9. A more determined and binding decision must be made to ensure that board members only interested in hefty allowances are removed and replaced promptly.

  10. Thanks Yaluma for that clarification else heads would have rolled. Now we need to have Mark Chona fired as he doesn’t contribute anything to Zambian Railways. MAKE CLIVE CHIRWA BOARD CHAIRMAN. If anything, for a Company that is yet to start making a single profit, and relying on borrowed money, non of the board members should be paid anything.

    Am meant to believe ZR HQ is in Lusaka and all of the board members lest for 1 reside in and around Lusaka all members except for 3 are government employees. Let them serve on the board without any allowances, if they decide to resign, we’ve a lot of Zambians who would gladly do that to see a better railway system.

  11. THERE GOES THE EUROBOND. This is what I said when Miles Sampa announced that govt had disbursed the Eurobond grant to Zambia Railways. That money should have been released straight to turnkey construction companies to avoid it being misappropropriated through k500 million sitting allowances, paying retirees, travelling allowances etc. Same applies to UTH grant. Only Kariba power station the Eurobond Grant for the intended purpose. It just reflects on how corrupt Zambia has become. Self enrichment at the expense of development from state house to the cleaner has become the order of the day. At the end of the day, its Zambian taxpayers who will pay back that money and therefore Zambians have a right to ask for accountability

  12. PF listen carefully. If you are there to steal in the name of Board membership, know that come 2016, we Zambians will flush you out in the same way we brought you in. Dont think us Zambians are dull as not to know what is going on. Sata please tell your people to behave.

    Peace and Prosperity to Mother Zambia.

  13. The minister should also have clarified why the Finance Director, Regina, is on forced leave. These boards are holding unnecessary board meetings to accumulate heft sitting allowances.

  14. As a woman in Zambia, i find this whole discussion insulting. How can you justify to spend 7million per board member per sitting when our hospitals, our children in schools, our pensioneers are suffering. it is common news now that in rural health centres, cleaners are the ones attending to patients. Coming to our graduates from yunza, they are still unemployed because there is no money in the government coffers. But how can you explain the spending of 7 million on someone who is already working and not employ someone who has not even one job. Aaaaaa, you will know me. I am not called Dora SC for nothing.

    • Madam, this kr700 is less than what board members get at BOZ, ZRA, ZAWA, ZESCO, NAPSA of minimum $2,500 per sitting.
      Let any Board member refute this!

  15. Zambia Railways is finished and they have ripped all the money. It is through these useless board meetings that they even failed to tell that ZR is going under. Look at the infrastructure at ZR and people sit for hour to steal the money then ask for donors and well wishers to help. This country has the money and this is just an eye opener to the many parastatals that have been robbed. This is not fair. The so called Minister knows that we voted for PF in order to fight against the same.
    If the President is really serious about fighting corruption and revamping the economy, this should be a litnus test for him and all sitting allowances should be reviewed.

  16. Whoever questions Mr Yaluma is a moron, this man was a director as well as a board member at the power company ESKOM here in SA until December 2012.

    • Juju: Your level of ignorance is astounding! Thinking like that in this day and age? Consider going back to standard 2…omg!

    • Ba Juju, you are exposing your ignorance. Just because Yaluma was so and so at the energy company in South Africa doesn’t mean he is omniscient. Its your kind of attitude that fails to question politicians or MD’s because you think they are all knowing. I shudder what your reaction would be if met Conderrezza Rice PhD.

  17. I see the board members of Zambia Ralways getting the money on a silver plate. No wonder Zambia Ralways got broke and the railway system was down. Getting about $1,300 per setting when primary school teachers do not get that amount in 22 days. I am sure the board calls for unnecessary meetings so that they can be paid. Who calls for meetings, is it the Chair of the board or the managing director? The culture and working style of the board will shatter the dreams of Zambia Railways just like ZESCO which cannot make profit unless tarrifs are hiked in order to pay fat allowances to board member and good at shedding the load. Prof. needs to be surrounded with board member of the same working style & culture. Board dream to be paid for “created meetings” in addition to true meetings

  18. These problems were left by MMD and its unfortunate that MMD elements are still in boards in most parastatals.
    Let all those that Chirwa has seen to be pulling him down be fired.We need to move foward as a Goverment.
    VIVA CHIRWA!!

    • Can you Sir stop the blame game. PF has been in power for close to two years now. All MMD appointed Boards were fired a long time ago, even though many had done nothing wrong and had initiated good projects as Kariba North Bank extension, Iteshi Tezhi Power station, Mongu Kalabo Road, Solar Geysers, Levy Junction, Livingstone Zimba Road, Mchinji – Chipata Railway and I could go on. Some of these Pf does not even know how to take them forward. Please stop blaming MMD. It did its job. It left the country without shortages. It left Board allowances at Kr1,500 only. Developing a country is not easy, especially if you want to do it in 90 days. Pf must solve the two problems MMD failed to solve namely poverty and unemployment. It will ultimately be judged on these two very serious issues

  19. U shud hav let chirwa to hold a press conference to expose the corrupt board members. Fake board members! wat do u even contribute to revamping ZR one might wander? No brains!! just want to pocket allowances shame on u, this is y Zambia is lagging behind in development because of these selffish and corrupt board members….

  20. IT SEEMS TO ME THAT CLIVE HAS THE VISION BUT NEEDS A NEW BRAND OF BOARD MEMBERS TO HELP HIM FULFILL THE VISION. PEOPLE LIKE CHONA ARE HYENAS THAT NEVER GET FULL. THE MINISTER MUST DISSOLVE THE BOARD AND MAKE SAASA AS CHAIRMAN.

    • Saasa as Chairman? What is wrong with you? Have you read the previous articles on ZR? Saasa is one of the three that are being mentioned. His thinking is always upside down on practical matters. He also wants contracts from ZR. Are you a Lozi disguising as a Chama or it is some intermarriage issue. Because Lozis never compromise on tribalism.

  21. Can someone in Government get get to the bottom of this “circus” in ZRL before the situation gets out of hand? Government needs to seriously get to the bottom of this matter on the huge allowances being paid to the so called “board members” in parastals by reviewing the allowances downwards. Board members need to be told that they are there to serve the Zambian people and not to amass wealth.

  22. Can the Government get to the bottom of this “circus” in ZRL before the situation gets out of hand? Government needs to urgently get to the bottom of this matter on the huge allowances being paid to the so called “board members” in parastals by reviewing the allowances downwards. Board members need to be told that they are there to serve the Zambian people and not to amass wealth.

  23. K7 million per sitting is definitely too much and disproportionate to the Zambian context, particularly to ZR.

  24. K7 million per sitting per each member is colossal! From the borrowed Euro bond first thing you do id pay sitting allowance to board members, count how many sittings per year. Don’t talk about loan interest but start with chewing it up. Well, something is surely amiss. If the western world behaved like we do they would not have developed the way they are. Problem with us is we climb tree from the leaves and not from the ground, if that makes sense. Our way of doing things is somewhat a big problem.

    • If you think K7m (ZR700) is colossal, try sitting as a delegate at the Constitutional Review Commission! Committe members X365 days
      1. Paid accommodation at Golden Bridge Hotel (normally KR600/ day) X 7= KR4,200
      2. Out of pocket allowance KR200 per day X 7 = KR1,400
      3. Transport Allowance KR150 per day X 7 = K1,050
      4. Subsistence Allowance KR800/night (for delegates outer Lusaka) X 7 = KR4,200
      5. Meal Allowance KR100 per day X 7 = KR700
      6. Allowance for your driver KR300/ night
      7. Out of pocket (for Chief’s retainer and Drivers) KR150 per day
      Total KR11,550
      Total (incl 6 & 7) K14,700 (not bad for a week’s work he,…

  25. Transport Minister Yaluma is behaving with a typical PF ‘Donchi Kubeba’ mantra. He claims if he allowed K500 million allowance to board members Satawould fire him. Yaluma has no conscious of his own to believe such colosal sums paid as ONLY allowances is obscene and immoral by Zambian standards majority Zambians wallowing in poverty. This is why new ideas with new thinking by young progressive minds should be allowed to take lead in Zambian politics. Its inconsequential to lament about MMD past regimes who were weak on such transparency because MMD is no longer in power. Let PF in power change things if at all they have capacity to do so. Yet today corruption continues, jobless, maize meal prices is sky rocketing, suffering is on and on. Old recycled polititians can not bring any…

  26. THESE BOARD MEMBERS ARE ALWAYS GOING TO THROW SPANNERS IN CHIRWA’S WAY TO FRUSTRATE HIM AND HIS PLANS. HE WAS ADVISED RIGHT FROM THE WORD GO TO EMPLOY A GOOD NUMBER OF PEOPLE FROM ABROAD WHO SHARE HIS ASPIRATIONS AND A SMALL NUMBER FROM THOSE PHDs.

  27. I do not agree to this one for a change. I am getting K3million take home per month. After putting in 8 to 10 hours per day x 22 or sometimes more days in a month is unacceptable. Ba Minister, revisit this K7m.

  28. Fr Bwalya is highly educated. Do not forget that to train a Father it takes about 7 years. You thank in seven years they just cover theology. He can not fail to atticulate issues relating to electricity. Do not forget that the Catholic world wide have the best education system. So let Fr Bwalya work as a Board member at ZESCO he has what it takes.

    • Fr. Bwalya is made of steel when it comes to board leadership. Ask MISA were he was a board chair – He was considered difficult and rigid and didn’t accept the casual approach. That’s what you need in a board member, incorruptible and thorough. Skills are transferable and Zesco stands to benefit with him on the board.

    • The problem we have with him is that he was dishonest with his motive for the red card campaign it was all for his belly. The man earns more than a Civil Servant who goes to work everyday while he sits one day and gets double the sitting allowance. God help Zambia, this is how the rich and well connected live such expensive lives.

    • Tarisai, it is K7,000,000 of OLD and ZMW 7,000 of rebased. It is a colosal amount of money to pay board members in a third world country with poverty at more than 70% of the population. I think this is immoral and cantankerous behaviour. The PF government must hold an extra ordinary cabinet meeting to review these outrageous parastatal board allowances. Is this why we are taxed 35% of our salaries so that some elites warming chairs in some board room with their behinds can enrich themselves? I am completely flabergasted and upset!!!

  29. Lets first anderstand how corparations are managed, The board can only sit for maximum of four days in a year. nomally it could be two or three if there pending issues.
    700*3 or 4.

    • Remember that ZRL is rebuilding from scratch so the chances of the board meeting frequently are high.
      Its no surprise that Wynter Kabimba has a big grin on his oily face…K7 million a seating….how many boards does he sit on again..he is smiling all the way to the bank!

  30. My brother Chris,unless u are involved. What is reported here shows that a problem is there. To me even 7milion is too much. Just sitting in a meeting?What has education done to zambians?lt has bewitched u to the extend u want to plunder 0 de nation.

  31. The minister is a typical cadre who thinks he can sit on the truth. The situation is a lot worse than what he is waffling about.
    Pro Chirwa is a highly educated and professional man who has worked in the UK for a long time and thus exposed to accountability and efficiency. He is not desperate for a job and if these greedy board members and their supporters mess him up he will walk away and we shall welcome him at Heathrow Terminal 5.

  32. It is not justifiable but that has been the status quo for the past 20 years. The problem with Zambia is that continuity has been lost because a lot of knowledgeable people perished at the hands of you know what. When some of the few surviving dinosaurs advise young people of what happened in the past we are quickly told to shut up. We still remember how some dinosaurs run away to Australia with some undisclosed sum of money but are now heading important organisations. We are not surprised at the Nigerian connection because some dinosaurs connived with a Nigerian accountant to defraud Namboard when they were working there. I remember a discussion on ZNBC where young musicians complained that the old musicians did not pass on their experience. They did not because most of them are gone.

  33. Ba PF ba pompwe munshibila nsala so ur teling me that summer kabimba makes alot of money from these body meeting imagin he sits on more than 4bords multply by 7m hw much is he making 28m just for siting on those useles bolds when its is a pension for some pipo.

  34. Mr Yaluma, you see smoke issuing from a chimney, and you think there is no fire? What do you think will Mark Chona contribute to ZR that he failed to contribute during all those years in unip, and mmd administrations? We need very new brooms to sweep clean. Saasa failed to uphold standards at Unza. Do you think he suddenly knows what to do at ZR?
    If rehab of ZR is going to succeed, you are going to need a TURNKEY exercise. Mr Minister, go to SIEMENS, BOMBADIER, HITACHI ,etc and ask them for a TURNKEY exercise of ZR. Don’t waste your money on those old guys who have no idea what a modern railway system should look like. Give us a break! No wonder you think all is ok.

  35. Remove those three board members identified by Chirwa as seriously lacking in integrity ( to put it mildly).

  36. Am back as SC, in addition, even Yaluma, despite him not attending any of these meetings, he also receives the 7.0M/ seating. This is absurd and should be fought by well meaning Zambians.

  37. I like the way the Minister said, Prof. Chirwa is not going any where. The people who are money hungrey are Mark Chona, He is a very bad person, he is there to take a piece of cake, he is somebody who has served in other organisations and it has all
    been problems with money issue, sorry not with PF mudala

  38. Mr Yaluma, give my suggestion a serious thought. With a TURNKEY exercise, you give a company the TERMS OF REFERENCE, the company designs the system, sources the materials, installs the system, commissions it, demonstrates that it works the way you intended, and hands it to you. If it doesn’t work you don’t give them the money. STOP
    Am surprised you have so much trust in Prof Chirwa. Can someone tell me which railway system he managed before being given that responsibility? The Prof is an academician. STOP. But the Prof knows all about TURNKEY projects. STOP. Yet it is surprising he got mixed up with all those tribal Guys. Does he still think he will deliver what Zambians deserve? MARK MY WORDS.

    • While I agree with your suggestion Mwana Muweme, unfortunately, there are many aspects to this peoject. I would like to take a view that in the process of revamping Zambia Railways, there will also be some benefits to the economy like creating and providing business to local industries that way creating jobs. If there was a relaying of a dual track from Livingstone to Solwezi, the rail slippers, electrical cabling for signals and construction of all the supporting infrustructure would be vital to the economy. What you fail to understand is that alot of Professors in academia in the developed world run and manage multimillion projects funded by industry and Engineering councils. So, just because Prof Chirwa was at an academic institution that doesnt mean he doesnt have project mgnt skills

  39. And you wonder why corruption will never be reduced in our country as these incompetent clowns in cabinet (yes included your Yaluma though he is “educated”) don’t take it seriously and are eager to sweep everything under the carpet. Why not let ACC make those conclusions in fact ACC should have moved at first hint of trouble and interviewed all these sources.
    Wake up people!!

  40. DAKAR, Senegal – Authorities charged the son of Senegal’s former president with illicit enrichment Wednesday following a months-long investigation into how he amassed a fortune of more than $1.3 billion.

    Karim Wade was ordered held in jail pending his trial, according to his lawyer El Hadj Amadou Sall. Police had detained the 44-year-old former government minister Monday.

    Wade’s lawyers have said he is being unjustly accused and vigorously deny the allegations that have long swirled around him. Authorities formally began investigating him not long after his father left office.

    Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/04/17/senegal-ex-president-son-karim-wade-faces-corruption-charges-over-13-billion/#ixzz2Qot3HMnR

    Now where is Rupiah’s son, and next will be Sata’s son…

  41. K7 million is still just too much. Board members of Utility companies and NDPBs in the UK get only half of that i.e. around £500 per sitting. How can a poor country be paying more than rich countries? Is it out of igorance or recklessness?

    • This is the way they steal money from us while we drown in poverty. All poor people are unaware of how money is siphoned out of companies they work for while they are recieving hand outs as salaries

  42. KR7000 IS A LOT OF MONEY FOR A POOR COUNTRY LIKE ZAMBIA, TO HELL WITH THE BOARD, YOU HAVE THE CEO LET HIM RUN THE COMPANY, THIS IS WHY WE ALWAYS HAVE CONFUSION IN THAT COUNTRY. THESE FAT CATS WANT TO ALWAYS FIND WAYS OF STEALING FROM POOR ZAMBIANS. REAPING BEFORE EVEN THE FRUIT DEVELOP. THIEVES?? Example. MIDDLE EAST COMPANIES ARE SO SUCCESSFUL WITHOUT BOARDS OR UNIONS. PEOPLE ARE JUST ACCOUNTABLE. WE HAVE TO CHANGE OUR WAYS BANEEE?????

  43. Zambia Railways Board:

    Mark Chona – Chair
    Prof Oliver Saasa – V Chair
    Members:
    Stephen Mwansa (PS Min of Commerce)
    Pamela Chibonga (PS Min of Finance)
    Richard Chipanama (Retired former employee)
    Geoffrey Mulenga (Mechanical Eng)
    Ireen Zeko Mbewe (Private Lawyer)
    Jornam Mwansa (Managt Consultant)
    Musa Mwenye (Solicitor General)
    Zindaba Soko (CEO RTSA)

    Looking at the credentials of the above board members, one wonders why they shouls be asking for KR7 000 sitting allowance. Are they in it for the allowances or service to the country. If allowances are the main reason then step aside and let others who are just as qualified carry out the task.

  44. @Chete. Fr. Bwalya wasn’t a Chairman of MISA because of Slaughtering chickens on the platform. His current appointment as ZESCO Board Chairman is because he’s a Party functionary and a Bemba. ZESCO Board Chairman – Bemba. MD – Bemba. Deputy MD – Bemba. It doesn’t add up, does it?

  45. Comrade Mfumu; understand that people of Zambia need an efficient and WORKING railway system. Such a system will also serve to decongest our road network between the Copperbelt and ports of Dar or Beira, Durban etc. Remember how we lost lives in February at Chibombo? Reducing congestion on our roads due to trucks will save lives. Prof understands what a Turnkey project is. Zambia can’t afford to get bogged down through allowances or in the name of giving business to the local community. That will come later. The EU will need their money back someday. Remember, money was meant to revamp our railway system and an efficient system will pay it back when in operation. Don’t start sharing it now. We need results. Zambia will be better afterwards! Kick out all SCROUNGERS NOW!

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