GOVERNMENT has urged the law enforcement agencies to carry out investigations to establish whether the oil tender awarded to two foreign firms to supply and deliver petroleum was done in a corrupt manner.

The reaction comes in view of newly elected MMD party president Nevers Mumba who said during his inauguration ceremony on Friday that the MMD had information on how the tenders had been corruptly awarded.

Dr Mumba said at Mulungushi International Conference Centre that the Gunvor and Trafigula oil scandal would soon bring the Patriotic Front (PF) Government to its knees.

“This oil saga will soon surface and we advise the Minister of Energy to ignore any political interference in this deal and reverse the unfortunate development.

“This singular act will result in the Zambian tax payer loosing US$43 million per year without adding the subsidy on pump price,” Dr Mumba said then.

Two foreign firms Guvnor Company and Trafigula Oil Company were last week picked by the Government as preferred bidders for supply and delivery of petroleum feed stock and two varieties of finished products.

On May 24, this year, the Zambia Public Procurement Authority (ZPPA) allowed the Mines, Energy and Water Development Ministry to start negotiations with preferred bidders following a long evaluation process.

Permanent Secretary in the ministry George Zulu said the Anti-Corruption Commission and other law investigative wings should probe any suspected corrupt deals in the oil tender as alleged by Dr Mumba.

He said contrary to Dr Mumba’s allegations, the oil tender procedure involved many stakeholders among others ZPPA, Energy Regulation Board and Indeni who carefully deliberated on the tenders.

Mr Zulu wondered how his ministry politically influenced the tenders when many key issues such as oil pricing and security of selected bidders were checked before any awards.

“The PF Government is fighting corruption in all angles. The oil tender is a purely government and public matter which was done transparently without being influenced by any political motive.

“There were 23 applicants (bidders) altogether but only two oil firms were successfully recognised. This process involved experts who don’t just advise by word of mouth but by putting things in writing and advised us before we arrived at any decision,” he said.

Mr Zulu said ACC and other law enforcement agencies should take keen interest and investigate such alarming allegations from some politicians who wanted to mislead Zambians.

“By acting in best of our country, I am prepared to die for this because no politics from PF, UPND or MMD influenced any officer on this oil tender. I am fully responsible as a controlling officer of what was done because the process was purely transparent,” he said.

He said Trafigula Oil Company which runs Puma Filling stations in Zambia was brought in by the previous MMD regime and the opposition party was aware about the company’s operations.

He said President Michael Sata should not be associated with corrupt transactions because the Government was working diligently to cleanse perceived corrupt practices in the country.

He said the PF Government reinstated ACC bill on abuse of authority of office which was removed by MMD so that the PF could be answerable to Zambians on corrupt transactions hence President Sata’s fight against the vice.

Gunvor Company was selected to supply and deliver 1.4 million tonnes of crude petroleum feedstock while Trafigula Oil Company would supply the 216,920,000 litres of diesel and 21,230,000 litres of unleaded petrol.

Mr Zulu urged the media to continue being a watchdog of members of the public and report objectively to inform and educate them on issues of public concerns.

    “But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?  We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard ”

That is a powerful statement given in the speech by former US president John F. Kennedy in 1962 . It can be taken literally, as at that time the US was preparing to explore the outer space , or it can be taken into the context of our own lives , that is , doing what is perceived to be impossible . People may tell you that you will never reach a particular  goal due to your current circumstances  but you have to be determined and go for it.

   “Many years ago the great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to climb it. He said, ‘Because it is there.’ Well, space is there, and we’re going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God’s blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.” 

You have to get rid of the mentality of  “it cant be done” . If you can see it , you can achieve it !!

Listen to the speech in full

By Kapa187

By Mazala Zulu

“I don’t know”
This is something we say more often than we realize it. The more you say it, the more confusion you create for yourself. Think about how many times you have said “I don’t know” the past week alone.

You want to improve your life for the better, but you tell yourself “I don’t know” how to do it. You may want to make more money, but you say “I don’t know what to do to make more money.” You might want to meet the right person but you say: “I don’t know what to do to meet the right person.” You may want to improve your health but you say: “I don’t know what to do, to get better or lose weight or get stronger.” You may want to have a better relationship but you say” I just don’t know how to do it”.

Did you know that every time you say “I don’t know” you tell your subconscious mind and your inner powers that you don’t want to know what to do.

This is one of the rezones why change for the better is not coming our way as fast as we would expect it to be.

Every time we say: “I don’t know” we most likely mean that we are not sure of what we want. By doing so, we create more misery and confusion for ourselves and the road to our success.

Simply saying “I know” instead of “I don’t know” isn’t enough. You have to change that belief. Your subconscious mind and your inner powers respond to your beliefs. They follow your beliefs and create your life based on those beliefs. If you believe you don’t know – you’ll never know and you’ll create more confusion.

To end the confusion and struggle, you have to give your subconscious and your inner powers a new set of instructions.

Give theme new beliefs. Get rid of the old belief of: “I don’t know.”

Making these changes is a lot easier than you think. All you have to do is send the right messages to your subconscious mind and your inner powers. Once you do that they’ll create more joy, more clarity and a lot more success. The more you do it, the better you become at it.

Your inner powers can connect you to the people who will lead you to success. Your subconscious mind can bring you all the answers.

You may not know what to do. You may not know what you really want. You may not know how to achieve your goals.But your subconscious mind and your inner powers know.

They can give you the answers. They can bring you anything you want. You want answers, they’ll bring them. You want to make more money, they’ll show you how. You want to meet the right person, they’ll tell you what to do. You want to improve your health, they’ll guide you.

Your subconscious mind and your inner powers will bring you whatever you want. You have to communicate with them, guide them and instruct them. “Your wish is my command” that’s the way your subconscious mind operates.

Once you master the process, success becomes easy and you get more of what you want.

I know what I want…, to end this confusion.

Tip: Wisdom becomes knowledge when it becomes you personal experience.

A housewife has been advised to change her peculiar ways of parsimony and greediness in order to save her marriage.

Stella Njovu, 21, of John Laing was told by magistrate Morgan Kayanika that she had to be transparent and should learn to share with her husband’s relatives if she wanted her marriage to last.

Magistrate Kayanika said for every marriage to last, both should be transparent and share with relatives of their spouses to bring about harmony and unity in the marriage.He said it was rare for women to be hard-hearted because they were the ones that harmonised families.

“You should learn to share with your husband’s relatives, most especially your mother-in-law, or else you risk loosing a responsible husband who cares for you,” he said.

Njovu’s husband, Masuaso Banda, 27, said his wife was stingy and did not care for his elderly mother.He recalled that on one occasion, his mother came asking for K50.000 which he had given his wife to take the following morning.But to his dismay when he went visiting his mother, she told him that his wife did not deliver the money.

Banda said when he asked his wife, she started an argument which ended up in a fight with him and she even bit his nail off.He said the other time they had an argument was when he told her to take some fish which was lying idle in the fridge to his mother’s place as she did not have any food at the time.

She said none of her relatives were eating at their house, therefore,she expected the same her husband’s relatives.He told the court that his wife wanted to commit suicide for no reason, an act which instilled fear in him because he would have been blamed had she died.

He said if she did not change then he had no option but to terminate the marriage because he could not keep up with her weird behaviour.

But Njovu said the incident of trying to commit suicide happened years ago and that she had changed.When magistrate Kayanika asked why she attempted to end her life,Njovu just broke down and kept quiet.He said the root cause of the problem was that she was immature and needed some counselling in order for her to be prepared psychologically.

Magistrate Kayanika asked her husband to give her another chance because she had changed her attitude.