THE Swedish government did not donate the 25 ambulances, it was the Ministry of Health that bought the ambulances at a total cost of US$52,550 using the United Nations system and Swedish money.

Health Minister Dr. Chilufya said the ambulances were bought using the Swedish grant donated to the ministry some time back contrary to the perception that the ambulances were bought by the Swedish government.

He said the grant was donated to the ministry to reduce maternal mortality in Zambia and that the money was allocated for different projects such as training, buying of ambulances and motorbikes.

“We do not mean to downplay the grant from the Swedish government but it must be made clear that it is the ministry that bought the ambulances, the Swedish government gave money to the ministry of health through a project, we procured ourselves,” Dr. Chilufya said.

He said the ministry made a conscious choice to use the United Nations procurement district which has its own subsidies and time frame.

“We made a conscious choice to use the United Nations procurement district which has its own subsidies, its own queues, and its own timeframe. The vehicles will only be used for reproductive health services, just to transport pregnant women,” he said.

Dr. Chilufya questioned why some people had started comparing the 25 ambulances with the 50 ambulances which government had bought at the cost of $250, 000 each when the ambulances are totally different.

He says the 25 ambulances are Toyota and will only be used for reproductive purposes while the 50 ambulances will be used for any emergency and mobile services.

“The other procurement was for emergency and mobile services. The facility had adequate height for people to operate from with life serving equipment.

“You can’t compare the two because they are far apart,” Dr. Chilufya explained.

He said the emergency and mobile ambulances had sophisticated facilities.

Dr. Chilufya said the model of the current ambulances was a Toyota while the previous procurement is a Mercedes Benz.

“We have made it clear that the 50 ambulances are not Toyota land cruiser, it is BENZ, we have also made it clear that there are intermediate life support systems there while the 25 ambulances are just ordinary vans with a bed put in there for the purpose of reducing maternal mortality,” he said.

Dr. Chilufya said it was the Ministry of Health that paid for the for the 25 ambulances.

Recently, it was reported that the Swedish government had donated 25 ambulances to the Ministry of the Health to strengthen health reforms in Zambia.

President Edgar Lungu has said that the Patriotic Front (PF) government will not shy away from borrowing because money is needed for infrastructure development such as water systems, Schools, Hospitals and Roads and not for consumption.

Speaking yesterday when he visited Lusaka’s Garden compound which is among the areas that have been affected by Cholera, the President said that his Government will borrow to make sure that the country moved forward, adding that his Government did not borrow to eat but to make sure that there is development and people are living well.

“So, we shall work and if it is money, we shall borrow if we don’t have money to make sure that the country moves forward, it doesn’t matter if people will talk so much against this. Because when we are in an emergency like this, it is time to borrow if we don’t have money. So those who are telling you that government is borrowing too much, when we borrow, we don’t borrow to eat, we borrow to make sure that there is development and people are living well. We fix the water, schools, hospitals and roads. That is why we are borrowing money,” he said.

The President said that the PF government is in a hurry to upgrade all shanty settlements across the country as stipulated in the PF manifesto and the Constitution through the Local Government Act.

President Lungu said that the move is meant to ensure the citizenry have access to decent housing and sanitation which will subsequently prevent the outbreak of water-borne diseases such as cholera.

The President explained that government is addressing the problem of unplanned settlements by upgrading shanty compounds which will see to it that all housing units are connected to proper water reticulation systems and sewer lines to curb water contamination and the outbreak of water borne diseases.

“What we have discovered is that at independence, kwalifye mayikulile [people were constructing houses anyhow] and this is the price we are paying, we have all these shanties.

“Going forward, we will begin planning settlements because as you know, Lusaka is a big shanty, so we have to upgrade these shanties to ensure there is reticulated water and toilets. This is an inherited problem and this is the job we were given by Zambians,”

The President was accompanied by the Minister of Health, Dr. Chitalu Chilufya, Minister of Local Government, Mr. Vincent Mwale as well as other Government Officials and Community representatives.

Meanwhile, Lusaka residents are happy with President Edgar Lungu’s pronouncement that Government will upgrade all shanty compounds in the capital, to improve sanitation and curb perennial diseases like cholera.

One of the residents, Smart Phiri said that the pronouncement is a welcome development as it will improve water sanitation and the drainage system.

Mr. Phiri said that the upgrade will also help develop feeder roads in the compounds and improve security system in such areas. Another resident Mike Banda said that it was high time shanty compounds got upgraded.

And the Zambian DNA has said that it welcomed President Edgar Lungu’s pronouncement that all the shanty compounds in Lusaka should be upgraded.

Zambian DNA spokesperson Spuki Mulemwa said that the unplanned settlements in Lusaka record large numbers of water bone diseases like cholera because they were not carefully planned.

Mr. Mulemwa said that the head of state should now ban the mushrooming number of shanty compounds especially in Lusaka.

Mr. Mulemwa also appealed to politicians and citizens to offer constructive criticism to government if the country is to excel economically and socially, saying it was disappointing that politicians spent 2017 finger pointing and name-calling, which should not be the case in 2018.

Provided the person who is appointed to the position of Secretary to the Treasury is incompetent, recurrent wasteful public expenditure is here to stay, says Green Party President Peter Sinkamba.

Commenting on the proposed amendment to the Public Finance Act, Sinkamba said no law is good if those delegated with power to enforce it are incompetent to enforce it.

He said even if the Act is amended, provided salient provisions to deter wasteful practices and losses are not enforced, civil servants will continue stealing and wasting pubic moneys.

“At the moment, the law is sufficient to deal with thieving public officers. The problem is enforcement. Officers delegated by law to enforce discipline are incompetent to do so.

“Take for instance Section 30 of the Public Finance Act of 2004. This law vests power in the Secretary to the Treasury to control all collection of public revenue that is due to Government. The truth is that budget deficits are recurrent because the ST is too incompetent to enforce this provision. Also this law vests all power in the ST to ensure there is no wasteful or unnecessary expenditure of public moneys. However, the reality is that losses and wastes are recurrent.

“In essence, failure to meet revenue targets is an issue of the ST being incompetent. Wasteful and unnecessary expenditure implied the ST is incompetent,” Sinkamba said.

“You see, the ST is mandated to initiate disciplinary action against erring officers. It is the responsibility of the ST to ensure that all those implicated in loss, wasteful or unnecessary expenditure of public moneys in ministries and Government departments are reported to the Secretary to Cabinet for discipline.

“There is no way the Secretary to the Cabinet can take disciplinary action against erring officers with a recommendation of the ST. So failure to recover all moneys from persons who were cited by the Auditor General in the report for 2016 is the problem of ST. Failure to discipline them is also the problem of the ST. He is supposed to initiate disciplinary measures. He has not done so. This is almost three months gone after release of the Report by the Auditor General. If this is not proof of incompetence, then what is it?” Sinkamba asked.

On Minister of Finance Felix Mutati who says Government is working on the draft bill to strengthen the Public Finance Act, Sinkamba argued that such position is ridiculous.

“It is ridiculous to claim recurrent losses and wasteful expenditure is because of inadequate law. In its current form, the law is more than adequate. The trouble is incompetence in the treasury. The chief controlling officer who happens to be the Secretary to the Treasury is simply some incompetent fellow. He is fully responsible for the indiscipline, recurrent losses and waste of public moneys, not the law.

“Perhaps, the Public Accounts Committee needs to recommend removal of ST. I think it is high time that honorable Howard Kunda and his committee recommended the removal of the ST for incompetence. I think it is only such action that can save public moneys.

“As the old adage says, fish starts rotting from the head. If the other parts of the fish start rotting then the head is worse off. So when checking for the rottenness of fish, you start from the head and not the tail. And for the civil service, the starting point to check rottenness is the ST, and that must be the starting for deterrent action,” Sinkamba said.