Thursday, March 28, 2024

Ministers should not be major bidders and contractors of government projects and tenders-Chipenzi

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The Governance, Elections, Advocacy, Research Services (Gears) Initiative Zambia is hopeful that president Hakainde Hichilema will not tolerate his ministers to be major bidders and contractors of government projects and tenders as this will compromise the fight against corruption.

In an interview, GEARS Initiative Executive Director McDonald Chipenzi says conflict of interest laws must be strengthened to ensure that ministers and other senior government officials concentrate on service delivery rather than propping their personal companies as conduits of corruption.

Mr Chipenzi is of the view that Zambia was legally a broken state as far as the rule of law was concerned in the last 10 years as evidenced by the normalization of lawlessness in all sectors of society.

GEARS says it expects the new dawn government to start the New Year with emphasis on the rule of law.

He notes that economic recovery and investor confidence cannot be achieved without the rule of law which is a door to good governance.

8 COMMENTS

  1. People must choose whether to be in the Productive Private Sector,
    or to be in the Consumptive Public Service .
    They should not Feed with Both Hands!!!

  2. Government Tenders and contracts must be available to all irrespective of being Minister or what. I agree with you on that one. There must be a level playing field. Let it not be like it was in PF where by to win a tender or contract from government you have to be Politically connected. Uneducated PF cadres who knew nothing about business were busy forming companies because they were sure of getting contracts here and there through connections.

  3. All contracts that we issued to previous government officials must be cancelled with immediate effect. All money repaid and let them re-apply. In PF, government officials were the largest contractors for government services. No wonder some of them wanted Bank of Zambia to issue a bond to pay them (aka “help them”). The other wanted them paid in addition to deserving pensioners who have always had delays in their pay.

  4. Jigga Kayama Simangulungwa (formerly Corruption scandals: 48 Houses Social Security Cash Luxury Presidential Jet Ambulances Fire Trucks Mukula Trees Ndola-Lusaka Rd Malawi Maizegate Fuelgate Swaziland landgate Zesco Loans Honeybee) Jigga Kayama Simangulungwa (formerly Corruption scandals: 48 Houses Social Security Cash Luxury Presidential Jet Ambulances Fire Trucks Mukula Trees Ndola-Lusaka Rd Malawi Maizegate Fuelgate Swaziland landgate Zesco Loans Honeybee)

    I agree 100%. Conflict of interest, probity and corruption and bribery laws must be strengthened, including declaration of gifts given to ministers. Without this, forget about development.

  5. My take on this government is that it is developing a nation of hatred for some people and especially those who were in power, well they may have had done wrongs in their administration of the government but there shouldn’t be all about hatred against them , because no one is clean enough to condemn their predecessors , think about those in government do you really think they cleaner than their colleagues in opposition, no they are not they could even be worse than those they defeated in the last year’s elections.
    Evidence is there to show how they looted the national asserts in the 1990s , but the case doesn’t end there because they are now in power they will definitely do what their colleagues did, so it better to just forget about those wrongs committed by their…

  6. They should not even be minor bidders. You cant be presiding over something in which you have an interest. Your job will narrow down to your personal interest and you wont serve the public who voted you into office.

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