Information has emerged that Chairman of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee Warren Mwambazi’s company Balaam Ltd is one of the firms that supplied Face masks to the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr. Mwambazi has been chairing heated PAC hearings this week that have been receiving submissions on the irregular supply of Covid-19 items to the DMMU.
On Monday, DMMU National Coordinator Dr Gabriel Pollen was instructed by Mr. Mwambazi to get hold of his predecessor Chanda Kabwe by whatever means possible to explain to the Committee why companies affiliated to PF cadres received supply contracts during Covid-19.
This was after Dr Pollen informed the Commitee that efforts to reach Mr. Kabwe have proved futile as the former DMMU Coordinator who is said to be unwell has not been picking his calls.
It was at this stage that Mr. Mwambazi instructed DMMU to get hold of Mr. Kabwe even if it means putting him on a Zoom call from his hospital bed.
But some senior officers from the Minustry of Health who opted to remain anonymous have revealed that Mr. Mwambazi’s company known as Balaam Limited was awarded three contracts by the Ministry of Health to supply DMMU with Covid-19 items valued at over K14 million.
“We are shocked that Hon. Mwambazi is now championing audits of the Covid-19 supply contracts when his own company Balaam Ltd received three contracts at over K14 million to supply Facemasks,PPPs and Thermometers in very suspicious circumstances,” the sources said.
The sources added,” he used the same company to get another Covid-19 tender at ZESCO valued at over K700,000. We don’t understand why he is using PAC to embarrass his own friends who supplied to DMMU when he also did,” they said.
They accused Mr. Mwambazi of turning the PAC hearings into a tool for embarrassing officials from the previous administration.
“You know that Hon. Mwambazi was in PF until he was left out of the adoption process but before that, he used his friends in the party to get numerous contracts just like everyone else.”
They have since challenged Mr. Mwambazi to declare interest when matters of DMMU and Covid-19 response are brought before the Committee hearings.
“He cannot continue chairing those meetings when he is clearly conflicted. PAC is a very important institution and we cannot have a Chairman who is compromised, the sources stated.
Whether the supplier belonged to UNIP, MMD, PF or Upnd it’s not important. What is important is whether the items were delivered or not. Today if you don’t belong to Upnd, you will find it impossible to get contracts with GRZ… even simple things like working at the Black Mountain, you have to be a Upnd member. Because of trying to impress, this Mwambazi has been caught pants down.
I agree with Dejavu. If he supplied everything according to the Contract on time then there’s no issue here. If he didn’t meet the contractual agreement but was paid then he needs to be arrested.
This reminds me of one fanatical Bemba-speaking UPND academic at UNZA whose anti-PF and anti-Bemba hegemony speech astonished all UPND members at a meeting held at HH’s house some months before last year’s election. Apparently, he was trying to impress the largely Tonga/Lozi/Northwestern gathering that he was one of them. But immediately after the meeting, everyone at the gathering started shunning him fearing that he was a plant from the PF. He is now a very frustrated and disillusioned fellow after being sidelined from all appointments he expected to get from the New Dawn government.
Even if for citizens to get GRZ contracts you have wear red is better than contracts being shared out by the people in power amongst themselves………..
With PF , it was all ministers , the clique and PF bosses …..
Contracts were being shared by lawmakers and people who managed the system……
Now we are seeing some transparency
This story has got CORRUPTION written all over it. Where is the ACC?
There is nothing to suggest Mwambazi did anything wrong. Supplying iiems is not an offence. And the serious probe from Mwambazi implies he could have followed all the tender rules himself. So don’t paint him black just on account that he supplied these things
SUPPLYING ITEMS AT A INFLATED VALUE IS AN OFFENCE
Lets have facts and figures here
But the Zamian money has been chewed by criminals
Now there is transparency. I have not seen any tender advert in the papers. I have not seen major contracts awarded. Let us wait and see when upnd will call the shorts. Transparency is not wishful thinking!
If he met all the parameters , there is nothing wrong. There is no offence in Mwambazi having supplied, when did supplying ever become an offence in Zambia
Imwe naimwe , don’t forget that Lusaka Times is controlled by Emmanuel Mwamba atase. Also don’t forget that Mr. Is the one in charge of fixing the Fertilizer theft that happened under all these PF stoogies,can’t you read between lines? This is the same retoric that Munir said abt ACC after being pursued “ACC is corrupt” but when they were in power , they used the very same ACC to intimidate and arrest others.
This is known as reverse psychology, they strike back socially at law enforcement agencies in order to weaken the system and run it their way as a banana. Which is what they achieved in the last 10years. But I feel for them cos they are dealing with a president that studied them for the very 10years they were plundering. It’s a checkmate and they know it but have to continue their way of life which is fooling Zambians & when Zambians become fools then they start stealing.
This is what Emmanuel Mwamba meant when he said PF will die, as his is the one in charge of creating stories in order to mislead and fool Zambians. They are playing a game or drama series. And if people also play with them-they win. But if people don’t play with them-they lose & eventually die. Zambians next time choose your leaders wisely
Even those doctors who are rioting and getting blocked and instd attended to by jst a PS(as they thot they are big shorts), that’s is all PF propaganda, there were no health official employment for the past 4 years, there is change of GRZ and u want that GRZ to jst wake up and employ only u, A doctor is jst 0.05% of the entire hospital. Why only you, is it becos of the 7years? Which u did not even pay for also, as it was a GRZ bursary. And why only Lusaka Drs? Are there no Drs in Mongu or Chipata? Clearly these were centralized PF cadres in Lusaka & CB. Sylvia Masebo will never tolerate that nonsense as she is a nurse and has knows who these kantonda pf doctors are. She is been watching for the past 10yrs.
Another criminal masquerading as a champion of fighting corruption.
PF regime and its operative cadres have all got corruption elements their status. Weather in PF or UPND now need to face the law. The net of the law will catch up with PAC-Chairman-Mwambazi. Example of Mumbi Phiri on Lawrence Banda’s murder is typical the card Mwambazi is playing.
Hang him…
Honeybee is more genuine.
This Chanda Kabwe should not begin to fake sickness instead of providing information how DMMU was managed. We hav information how he worked with DC Mulenga of Lumezi District to divert DMMU bags of millie-meal, rice and maize sold to Malawi meant for the valley flood victims.
So, either in hiding or sick in hospital or even old age, justice demands answers and Zambians urgently need those answers before criminals die.
Does the regulation permit government officers in such positions to participate in tenders???
Whether it’s mwambazi or anyone else. The committee does not consist of mwambazi alone and if the other committee members feel balam Ltd did something wrong then that company will be in trouble.
Mr hon.just continue to work…….