Thursday, March 28, 2024

Tayali Castigates the Controller of Government Transport for Failing to Stop the rampant misuse of Government Vehicles

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MINISTER of Transport and Logistics Honourable Frank Tayali has taken a swipe at the Controller of Government Transport for negating its responsibility of curbing the rampant misuse of Government vehicles.

He said he is very disappointed that on a number of occasions that he has called for statistics regarding the Government fleet, information has not been made available.

He described the conduct as unacceptable to note that it is not possible to track who was using government transport adding that there could be non-government officials using government transport.
The visibly upset Minister said when administrations change it does not mean Government changes as well because it has been one institution since 1964 adding that when administrations change it does not mean that staff should go to sleep.

He said this when he visited the offices of the Government Transport Control Unit offices as part of his familiarisation programme of Departments and Units under his ministry.

Hon. Tayali wondered why there have been so many accidents happening when the Unit is there to monitor the use of vehicles more so by officers on private errands.

The Minister said Controller of Government Transport Mr. Ernest Kunda working together with the Road Transport Safety Agency (RTSA) has a role to play in curbing the numerous accidents.

The Minister revealed that he got a tip-off from Mpika where a Government vehicle was captured on a video where a driver from the Ministry of Health was loading passengers and charging them.

He said there is a notorious driver from the Ministry of Health driving a white Land cruiser and wondered why such kind of negligence was being tolerated.

The Minister told Mr. Kunda that as a Controller, he should not be susceptible or liable to such kind of negligence.

He strongly cautioned Mr. Kunda that the Mpika incident clearly shows that he is not in control of Government transport if such abuse can happen.

The Minister was accompanied by Acting Permanent Secretary Mr. Stephen Mbewe, Acting Director Planning Ms. Inreen Tembo, and other senior government officials from the ministry.

Other Departments the Minister visited are Office Equipment and Pontoon and Mechanical Services formerly Engineering Services Corporation (ESCO) Limited and the Provincial Maintenance Office.

10 COMMENTS

  1. Drivers are a menace. GRZ has no option but to install trackers on all vehicles. Even we private transporters face the same challenges.

  2. Consult Mr.Mutati he is one of the New dawn Minister who was proactive while in the past govt at the Ministry of works and supply.Read below
    In effort to curb the misuse of Government vehicles Mr.Mutati outlined the penalties as follows;
    Driving a Government Vehicle when one is not a Government employee attracts K 1000.00
    Driving a Government Vehicle by an unauthorised Government driver attracts K800.00
    Misusing a Government Vehicle by abrogating the laid down rules three times in six months attracts dismissal.
    Driving a Government Vehicle without a certificate of competence attracts K500.00
    Driving a Government Vehicle under the influence of alcohol drugs or alcohol attracts K250.00
    Parking at an unauthorised place such as bars attracts K250.00
    Over…

  3. Damn, Minister of Transport & Logistics Office with all that paper and brown envelops? We need a Mindset change because with this? its business as usual. These people should digitize. This why we have rampant corruption. Just the environment natures it.

  4. Please do away with Luxury SUVs as well. No more abuse of GRZ vehicles… it doesnont make sense to have a convoy of 20 cars to go and open a rural clinic that after only 2 weeks will have no medicines! The amount of money spent on fuel for that convoy of ministers could be used on medicines instead. Zambia when will we learn? Only UNIP were avoiding such needless expenditure. MMD and PF worst culprits, I hope the UPND govt will be different.

  5. They have increased CDF, it’s time local Gov for each constituency to buy and manage its own transportation needs. I hope that’s where we are going. Police should be fund from CDF. Town clerk can sort his own transport. How can you monitor a car in mwinilunga when you’re in Lusaka? Trackers and the equipment that you need to track are expensive to buy.

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  6. Well done minister. At least someone has spoken out about this perennial problem in Zambia. All they want is to run down the vehicles and get government to buy new ones so that the old are sold to them for peanuts.

  7. There is another driver from the Ministry of Fisheries who is notorious for literally owning a GRZ Landcruiser. He has the audacity to park it overnight at the premises of a private company.

  8. @Maka those fines are just chicken feed. They need to be raised. If I misuse a government vehicle I can make thousands of kwacha from my errands. The punishment should suit the crime. I don’t even know why people are given government cars. The new government should facilitate loan systems with banks to allow civil servants to buy their own cars. We can’t be buying cars for workers to ferry girlfriends and building materials

  9. Yes, there’s rampant abuse and this has been going on for years. However, the problem isn’t with the controller, but the whole governance system. The controller has minimal powers and can’t stop those in political office from abusing the system. Over the years, it has started with the lack a system with the machinery to check abuses from the President downwards. This is why we need to reformulate the system, starting with the complete removal and replacement of the constitution. Such checks and balances should be supported by a national audit office controlled by an independent civil service. Let’s make the President a chief executive, with no political role. The political office should be under a prime minister, with the cabinet picked from outside the Parliament. Break the…

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