Thursday, March 28, 2024

Minister bemoans shoddy works by some contractors

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Western Province Minister Nathaniel Mubukwanu and his Permanent Secretary Mwangala Liomba await the arrival of the President at Mongu airport
Western Province Minister Nathaniel Mubukwanu and his Permanent Secretary Mwangala Liomba await the arrival of the President at Mongu airport

North-Western Province Minister Nathaniel Mubukwanu says some of the disasters on infrastructure being experienced in the region are as a result of lack of supervision and shoddy works by contractors.

Speaking when he visited the blown off maternity ward at Solwezi General Hospital today, Mr Mubukwanu said contractors should not be allowed to derive maximum benefits from government by delivering building materials that do not conform to government standards.

Mr Mubukwanu appealed to officers in the department of public infrastructure to ensure that they strictly supervise contractors engaged to undertake public works.

The minister commended medical staff at the hospital for ensuring that no life was lost when the incident happened and for the efforts made to ensure that service delivery is not interrupted.

Briefing the minister, acting Provincial Health Director, Kennedy Gondwe said three out of the four incubators at the hospital have been damaged by the rains.

Dr Gondwe said the oxygen concentrators and other pieces of electrical medical equipment have also been damaged.

On Friday afternoon, heavy rains experienced in Solwezi blew off 70 percent of the roof of the maternity ward at Solwezi General Hospital.

11 COMMENTS

    • These illiterate ministers and PSs know only one language, corruption and shoddy jobs. When government officials and politicians take 40% of every contract as kickbacks what is expected of the contractors?
      When the minister charges K2,000 (Yes, K2,000 is the minimum he is charging) to give an appointment to foreigners, what does one expect?
      These are the cause of all the poverty around, all roads having potholes within 2 years, all building developing cracks, even new Lusaka International airport building had its cracks covered up lest it shows on opening.
      What a useless government and its bureaucrats!

    • Well, that’s what happens when you give contracts to party cadres instead of competent professionals.
      We all know PF ministers, officials and cadres who have no technical competence at all are busy opening “construction” or “engineering” companies. And they are being given huge contracts by dubious means or single sourcing. What do you expect?

    • These illiterate ministers and PSs know only one language, corruption and shoddy jobs. When government officials and politicians take 40% of every contract as kickbacks what is expected of the contractors?
      When the minister charges K2,000 (Yes, K2,000 is the minimum he is charging) to give an appointment to foreigners, what does one expect?
      These are the cause of all the poverty around, all roads having potholes within 2 years, all building developing cracks, even new Lusaka International airport building had its cracks covered up lest it shows on opening.
      What a useless government and its bureaucrats!

  1. That’s what happens when you give contracts to PFoools cadres who in turn pocket the money… Bu pompwe ba PF

  2. why is minister so quick to point fingers? Shame. cant we have learned ministers to learn to have investigative tones. I expected provincial engineer(works and supply to have been on the scene with team and give preliminary findings than this rhetoric’s(I am sick and tired of such so called honorableness who seem not schooled ). Worst of it all, The health PS has construction background.I expected her, or maybe she was not on site.Suppose the contractor so blamed met all the standard specifications required? so what then? I point the finger at ministry. They had 14 months supervising the contractor. You minister watch your mouth OK? We need to take a leap, even if you are minister commanding, rushing to emergency scenes honors you no foul talk. Go along specialists in such…

    • The female Health PS is in charge of administration, yes, but she was not there when the Provincial Minister or PS were visiting the premises. Why do you want to drag an innocent official in the mud.

  3. You know who the contractor is, so summon him to explain. We know you can’t do that so shut up. The only contractors doing Government jobs are Chinese and PF cadres. Look at the Kitwe-Ndola Dual Carriage way done by James Kamanga or the stretch of Chingola-Solwezi road done by Goodwell Mulubwa, are these not an embarrassment? Even God in Heaven knows that on the of judgement many PF cadres will gnash their teeth

  4. Thats Zambia for you. The level of incompetency, lack of professionalism, sebana wi ikute ism, ni kudya na bo ism, etc. The one i really dislike is ‘kudya na bo’. What kind of a modern human society are we that can be so focussed on ‘kudya’. According to Maslow ‘s hierarchy, the terms ‘sebana wi kute’, or ‘kudya na bo’, or such as is being used by immoral imbeciles to loot government and national resources, is a direct reflection of a primeval civilization. Lets uplift the standard of our society to some acceptable level of civility and Gods innate potential in our lives, especially as we are a nation that espouses Judaic values. This sudden desire to satisfy base instincts using looted public resources shall surely have dire adverse consequences to how future generations…

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