Former Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) National Coordinator Chanda Kabwe has lashed out and dared the public accounts committee to recommend his arrest if it feels he abused his office in the procurement of reusable face masks for 58 districts that were at the risk of the covid-19 pandemic.
During its last sitting, the public accounts committee heard that DMMU received presidential directives to procure reusable facemasks costing k50, 450,850 and did not follow the right procedure to identify the suppliers.
The auditor general’s report revealed that there was no transparency or terms of reference to indicate how suppliers were identified, rendering the procurement of reusable facemasks costing irregular.
And according to the needs assessment conducted by the DMMU, it was supposed to procure 4.2million re-usable face masks, but the unit instead procured 5 million masks representing an over procurement of 845,689.
It is against that background that the PAC summoned the former DMMU national coordinator to appear before it, but he did not avail himself during the last sittings until today.
Appearing before committee yesterday, Mr. Kabwe lashed out at the committee which he felt was interrogating him, further complaining that he was not availed with the queries that were raised by the auditor general and therefore felt he was not in the capacity to respond to some of the questions raised by the committee.
Mr. Kabwe also told the committee that he is ready to pay the price if it is established that the procedure in procuring the facemasks was not followed.
Mr. Kabwe who advised the committee not to interrogate him like he was before the court said, the DMMU in partnership with other stakeholders kept revising the plan to cater for new development.
He explained that the decision to procure the face masks was arrived at with the involvement of all stakeholders, further stating that in the cases were it appeared as though procedure was not followed, this was a matter of emergency and people’s health and lives were at risk as the covid-19 was an foreseen development.
Meanwhile public accounts committee chairperson warren Mwambazi assured Mr. Kabwe that he was not being interrogated and all questions put to him were procedural and in accordance with the set parliamentary guidelines.
Trying to fish for dry fish in the river. The Covid19 period required urgent measures where procedure was only going to be a hindrance. Even in the mines where we respect procedure religiously, there are times when we jump everyone and have the general manager approval….so long there are no under the table dealings.
First of all most of the audit reports from the AG’s office are alarmist and don’t bring out real issues. Those young auditors are just overzealous, just like their boss. Most of them can’t make it in private practice. This Committee has also been turned into a witch-hunt because of the general narrative by the UPND that the PF were thieves. That’s why they’re failing to bring out real issues that can stand in Court. So I’m not surprised by Chanda Kabwe’s challenge because most of their questions are nonsensical. Those that deal with GRZ know that a procurement of that magnitude can’t moved and authorized by one person. Where are the others? They’re now with Gabriel Pollen
One of the suppliers is part of the committee why didn’t he also answer
There goes Deja Vu trying hard to sympathise with crooks again …so what if it was an emergency you still need to the right procedure to identify the suppliers not handpick middlemen who happen to be your collegues and have never supplied before.
I am surprised this boy Kabwe is still walking the streets…the way he abused that office is unbeliveiable, ACC is sleeping…on covid they will hide behind it being emergency, there were contracts in MOH where they all hid behind emergency even supplying panadol.
What is this PAC about? Has it got power to bite or is it just another Kangaroo court just harrasing citizens? I have never heard of any one arrested rising from such sitting. Its no wonder Chanda Kabwe could behave the way he behaved . He was right in in his own way and challenged them to do what is right if they thought so –recommend for his arrest. But funny enough all the PAC members just got annoyed and some lost their tempers. Is this committee necessary or a waste of tax payers money?
Chanda was arrongant…….because he knew the Chairman of PAC was a beneficiary from the supply of face masks.
# Here comes Tarino Orange with preconceived ideas even when he’s not fully read the post. I know you are in England, and I know English is not your mother language so let me explain for you…. desperate situations require desperate solutions…as long as it can be proved that Kabwe benefitted from the purchase of the masks, he should face the music…in the absence of evidence that he took advantage nothing can be done against him. That’s why we have courts otherwise we would be sending every suspect to the firing squad. I’m not defending Kabwe.
The supply of face masks is marred with corruption which proving a case out of it will be difficult because it carries a tag of COVID-19 emergency supply. The question they can ask also is what happened to the face masks which were donated to the government to give it’s citizens? Maybe these are the ones they claimed to have procured and supplied no wonder there was no proper procurement procedure.
Tell them papa. There is such a thing as light skin privilege. Interestingly the new post holder is clean because I can’t think of any other difference than him being light skinned..fuseke upnd
educated committee full of incompetent people trying to intimidate citizens.They think it’s UPND party or their homes where they make threat and cheat everyday.Time is catching up with you guys.You lied that’s why you won elections but Zambians can’t be fooled in your regionalism
I understand that PAC processes have often been nothing but hot air, the only exception being the investigation into honey bee (which was begun by an investigative piece by Diggers).
Coming to this matter, it was an emergency, we surely shouldn’t have spent time submitting tenders and all.
Particularly, Article 37 of the Public Procurement Act no, 8 of 2020 lists all possible ways of procurement,
38 (4) allows the award of contract for justifiable reasons in a different manner.
I would opine that an emergency such as covid would warrant the single sourcing. Most sellers would say in batches of millions, 5 million masks is sensible to a seller, not 4.2 million.
Procurement process is a chain where at every stage the one handling gets a cut of the cake. If one is jumped he becomes a whitsle blower. I have worked in the system… each handler calls the proposed supplier and asks for money. If you don’t give in, your papers will stay in the basket ( where it’s electronic, the guy will keep it In the system). It’s not as clean as people want to believe.
Deja Vu – I dont post for likes here I speak my mind…you do understand that evidence given by a witness before a parliamentary committee cannot be used elsewhere, for example in a court, without the Speaker’s permission?
There’s no doubt that the procurement of face masks at DMMU & MoH was grossly abused. A proper auditor would list suspicious individuals and entities that benefitted. DMMU just like MoH has a procurement committee on which you’ll find representatives from DEC, ACC & ShuShuShu. It wasn’t Chanda Kabwe alone that was involved. Don’t be surprised if you discover that Chanda didn’t even sign any document. Where are the people that signed the cheques. The PF used the program to empower its cadres, in fact many masks were made out of PF chitenge. Where is the receiving committee? These people are now working and eating under Pollen. PAC is shooting blanks and it’s annoying
Save a life of your own child after a legal requirement is concluded. Some of these things are clear common sense.
Ndelolesha fye.
Okay, the hearing aside – Chanda Kabwe has a funny voice.
Africans are so similar. South Africans scrambled to steal state money in the name of supplying equipment for covid 19. Is it because the vulture is an African bird?
We concur with Deva ju and Zambian comments. The PAC is useless . Let new dawn scrap it . Benefits out of it
Bakabwalala Konsekonse. Mu toileti, mu State House, mu Hospital, mwi sukulu, mu Manda, mu chalichi, mwibala
Kelvin Sampa ditched the PF to join the Upnd. Someone who knew the skeleton in his cupboard reported him to the police.