President Rupiah Banda has reiterated that he would not condone any acts of corruption in his government but instead support law enforcement agencies’ investigations on corrupt practices in various ministries.

President Banda has since ordered Secretary to the Cabinet, Joshua Kanganja to cooperate with the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and other law enforcement agencies that were undertaking investigations on corrupt practices in the civil service.

He said Dr. Kanganja, who is the head of the civil service in Zambia, should work with the ACC and other anti-corruption agencies as they try to get to the root cause of the alleged corruption in some government ministries.

He expressed sadness that allegations of serious corruption involving huge sums of public funds have persisted despite government efforts to fight the vice.

This is according to the press statement released by Special Assistant to the President for Press and Public Relations, Dickson Jere and made available in Lusaka today.[quote]

“I want a full report on these allegations. We cannot condone such acts of abuse of public funds,” he said.

President Banda said going by the amounts of funds and assets involved, it was clear that most of the alleged corruption cases in government ministries could not have started in the last six months when he was elected as President.

He has further appealed to all government officials to adhere to the principles of zero tolerance to corruption.

The President has also demanded for a thorough forensic investigation in the mentioned government departments in order to get to the root cause of the allegations.

He has meanwhile asked the investigating agencies to carry out their work in accordance to the law, noting that the alleged perpetrators of corruption should be subjected to the due process of the law while their rights to a free and fair trial should be respected at all times.

Last week, the ACC unearthed a scam in which a former Ministry of Health senior official allegedly got K10 billion though corrupt means.

The agency further uncovered another scam in Eastern province in which a road contractor wanted to defraud government of K925 million.

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Maamba Collieries Ltd (MCL) retrenchees, who have not been paid their money for the past eleven years, today stormed the house of the District Commissioner (DC) Mungoni Simulilika to present their grievances on the government’s delay in paying them their money.

The former workers, who complained that many of their friends have died of depression, warned that they would demonstrate if government fails to pay them their money.

Speaking on behalf of the retrenchees, Alick Siankuku said their representatives have been in Lusaka for the past four months to have their matter addressed but government has continued delaying in paying them.[quote]

Mr Siankuku said retrenches have demanded to be put back on MCL payroll according to the high court judgment that they obtained so that their misery could be reduced.

He said according to the judgment, all the retrenches were supposed to be put back on the payroll until government paid them their money but it was not honoured resulting in the accumulation of wages for the past eleven years.

He said the retrenches would not want to disappoint the President through resorting to riots but if government fails to honour its promise they would be forced to demonstrate.

Bornface Nchimba said they were failing to take their children to school because they have no source of income from the time they were retrenched.

Mr Nchimba disclosed that there was starvation among the retrenched workers and they were desperate because there was no peace in their homes.

Malala Muchimba, who is a widow, said all the retrenched workers were bitter about the non-payment of their money.

She said President Ruphiah Banda promised to pay them their money in two weeks last year in October but nothing has been done since.

She alleged that the ministries of Justice and Finance and National Planning were delaying the whole process of paying them.

Ms Muchimba warned that their patience should not be taken for granted.

And the Sinazongwe DC, Mr Simulilika, said he would take up their grievances to the relevant authorities so that the matter would be addressed.

Mr Simulilika said the matter was already above his office and everything possible was being done to ensure that it received the highest attention.

He noted that government was being careful in addressing their complaints so that no mistake was made since the matter was ruled in court.

Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) Solwezi Central Constituency chairman, Tradeson Mulofwa has warned Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) North-western Provincial Coordinator, Fredrick Nabanda to stop issuing statements concerning the K2.5 billion paid by Kansanshi Mine as land rates.

Mr. Mulofwa said it was wrong for Mr. Nabanda to allege that Local Government and Housing Minister, Benny Tetamashimba who is also Solwezi Central Member of Parliament and Solwezi West Member of Parliament Humphrey Mwanza, Richard Taima for Solwezi East and the then Solwezi Mayor Emmanuel Chihili, held a meeting and disbursed the K2.5 billion without consulting the Solwezi Municipal Council.

This is contained in a statement made available in Solwezi today.

Mr. Mulofwa said Mr. Mwanza and Mr. Taima were competent in administrative matters such that they could not allow a meeting to be held for four people only and that Mr. Nabanda should not turn any standing committee to be a committee.[quote]

He added that the full quorum of the councilors in Solwezi was 23 therefore, four people cannot make a quorum for a meeting to proceed.

Mulofwa challenged Nabanda to disclose the names of stakeholders who complained to him about the disbursement of the K2.5 billion land rate paid by Kansanshi mine adding that if he does not the MMD would sort him out.

When contacted for a comment, Mr Nabanda said the threats by the MMD chairman were unwarranted and uncalled for.

Mr. Nabanda said it was the duty of CCJP to monitor and ensure that public resources go towards service delivery adding that he was merely sounding a concern on behalf of the public.

He said he expected to get a reaction from either Honourable Tetamashimba or Solwezi Municipal Council on how the money in question was used as it was raising suspicion amongst citizens.

This follows a story published in the post newspaper of May 12 2009 which quoted Mr Nabanda as having questioned Local government minister Benny Tetamashimba’s involvement in the disbursement of K2.5 billion land rate payments made to Solwezi Municipal council by Kansanshi mine.

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THE Patriotic Front (PF) in Southern Province has lashed out at former party general secretary Edward Mumbi accusing him of insincerity.

PF Provincial Coordinator, Opper Hamiyanze, said in Choma today that Mr Mumbi was an ungrateful man who had been offered a job by President Micheal Sata out of humility.

“The fact that he was given a job, we expected him to serve the party with sincerity. Mumbi actually contributed to the loss of the party in the last presidential elections,” said Mr Hamiyanze in reaction to Mr Mumbi’s statement that Mr Sata had not properly managed funds meant for campaign programmes in the October 30, 2008 presidential by-elections.

Mr Hamiyanze said the PF had assigned Mr Mumbi to travel to South Africa to witness the printing of ballot papers for the presidential poll but failed to give back a report on what transpired there.

“He betrayed the party and we did not expect him to begin betraying us further after leaving the PF,” he said.

“We do not even understand when he says president Sata is greedy. To us, it is him who is greedy because he was eating with both hands.”

He said Mr Mumbi had never been a councilor or a member of parliament to understand the intricacies of running a party.

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