Honey-bee Pharmacy Lawyer Tutwa Ngulube has warned that government must pay up to $5million for the materials that Honey-bee Pharmacy supplied to the Ministry of Health or face the consequences that come with breach of contract.
Mr. Ngulube described as a hoax suggestions that Honey-bee supplied defective materials because no credible evidence from scientific assay had been rendered.
And the staff at Medical Stores have revealed that the six workers dismissed in connection with the matter were mere victims of an elaborate cover-up campaign intended to mislead the nation over the matter.
“The truth is that there was nothing wrong with the drugs and materials supplied by Honey-bee, that is why they were sent to Kabwe and Kasama which were facing a serious shortage of drugs,” he said.
He explained that defective drugs were destroyed and not simply put in quarantine. “This must tell you something, about the attempt to mislead.”
Mr. Ngulube said the government was incurring interest because the contract that was entered into between the Ministry of Health and Honeybee Pharmacy provided that if the government does not pay within 60 days, 25 percent of the amount they were supposed to pay becomes the interest.
He said that Honeybee supplied the materials to the ministry when the government had no money to pay cash and as per contract, they were supposed to pay for what was supplied within 60 days and they failed.
Mr Ngulube said it was because the government breached the contract by failing to pay that they started cooking up stories of the drugs being expired so that they could escape from paying.
He said that any month that passes without the government paying Honeybee, the country incurs a loss because it is a moral obligation for Government to pay as per contract.
“Honeybee does not incur any losses,” he said.
Mr. Ngulube said that from the time that they put up demands for payment from the government the amount was about $3 million and now the money they owe has accumulated to about $5 million.
He said when the issue of supplying expired drugs arose, the supplier got some samples and sent them to a World Health Organisation (WHO) accredited laboratory for testing and they were certified fit for use.
Mr. Ngulube also said that in the same vein, the Zambian government sent the condoms and medicines to several laboratories that were accredited to WHO and the results showed that the supplies were within the parameters.
He also wondered why, if the materials that Honeybee supplied were defective, the Zambia Medicines Regulatory Authority cleared them when they were imported.
Mr Ngulube said that the government never even wanted to make the information public that they were proven wrong by international laboratories.
He also said that the contract also provided for arbitration so if the government saw that they were supplied with defective drugs what stopped them from taking the matter for arbitration, “because they know that their claims were wrong.”
Mr Ngulube said there was a legal document (a contract) that the Ministry of Health drafted and signed with guidance from the Attorney General that they have to honour. “They must pay because the time we are going to take them on, the amount would have accumulated even more,” he said. He said that when Covid-19 infections were at their peak in the country, the government used up almost all the drugs that were supplied by Honeybee.
Mr Ngulube said that the drugs that were supplied between 2018 and 2019 were not expired.
“Now that government kept them from that time they wanted to claim that they supplied expired drugs four years later,” he said.
Makes sense. PF was using money for campaigns. They couldnt pay for any contracts. Trust Lungu and his minions to cook up a story like that
Lungu procured medicines for free. Sharp. Kikikiki
Too many mysteries in Zambia. It can make a good movie or a good novel.
Since this honey bee thing started with PF, it will always be in deep rooted corruption which does not even require any more evidence. If the government pays, they will be rewarding full blown corruption, unfortunately a contract is a contract, caught between a hard surface and a rock
DISGRUNTLED PF MEMBER
Tutwa is a very dull lawyer and I dont even know why some organisations hire him
These Thieves..! Look at how they easily agreed to a contract meant to disadvantage Government.
There is completely no evidence. After all most of those in upnd making a big deal about this were already sick even before this issue..fuseke
25 percent of the amount they were supposed to pay becomes the interest, good lord! This was a fraud, no doubt! Which government in their right sense of mind would sign a contract with such horrific provisions. It’s clear this was the same kind of situation like the Lusaka Ndola highway that was badly overpriced and when the UPND came kncking the cost plummeted by 60%. As for Tutwa Ngulube, ka mambala iwe, Boma ni Boma. You do not go there threatening the government of so called “consequences that come with breach of contract”. Uzafelapo chabe kamulya mbeba wena..
Very soon Honeybee will cleanse itself because too many people are sleeping ….they think we have forgotten about that live Parliamentary commitee broadcast were PS was grilled and Chilufya was handing her notes.
Just the name tutwa ngulube………..
brings a bitter taste to the mouth……..
Like expired drugs……….
NOTORIOUS PAT2I0TIC FR0NT aka N.P.F at work!
These are the dangerous kicks of a dying Horse, where these thieving Piyefu parasites attempt to squeeze one more illicit payment from the treasury. The mind boggles, its as if stealing using INYATSI & it’s Drunken corrupt proxy ex President J0nathan Ch@k0lwa was not enough!!
I think 90% of N.P.F members should be locked up, whilst the Nation figures just what’s going on.
we need to bring back the case of assault in a boarding school committed by one child…you cannot get away with criminal offence beating someone like that is not banter but assault causing actual grievous bodily harm ..anyway the samples honney sent to the ‘selected’ lab who agreed to subject the drugs to the same…? no money will be paid just go to court….
See how PF cohorts purposely signed a defective contract which keeps on giving honeybee 25% every 6 months as interest for free. And am sure they must have included a clause in there which states that if the contract is canceled then government will have to cough up a substantial amount as compensation. This is how they were stealing right under our noses with legal backing.
NGULUBE SHOULD GIVE UP AND MANAGE HIS LODGE IN KABWE
GIVING BACK HANDS TO GET OCCUPANCY IS NOT RIGHT
LAYWER MMMMMMMMMMMM
Why not respond to the substance of what he has raised, rather than resort to personal attacks?
GRZ signed the contract and govt remains constant, what changes is the party in govt.
If Honeybee supplied defective drugs, take them to court and produce that evidence.
Otherwise, govt cannot escape paying them.
That’s just how commercial contracts function.
It’s not about emotions and unsubstantiated allegations.
Good checks and balances dont give up go ahead honarable.
But you were part of this supply scandal , should you even be commenting on it iwe ka lawyer sir?
grz doesnt need to go to court it sould just refuse to pay you…