Communications and Transport Minister Dora Siliya has said former State House aide David Kombe told her that former first lady Maureen Mwanawasa wanted the ministry to favorably consider a specific firm for an e-governance tender.
Ms Siliya told the tribunal probing her conduct that Mr Kombe who claimed to be Mrs Mwanawasa’s emissary had consistently asked her and other officials in the ministry to consider ZTE which was not one of the companies short-listed for the e-governance tender.
Ms Siliya, in her defence had on Monday alluded to the fact that her ministry was in the past considered to be corrupt because an official from State House had interfered with a tender on e-governance at the ministry.
At this point, the petitioner’s lawyer Bonaventure Mutale said the official should be named but Ms Siliya’s lawyer Eric Silwamba objected saying such names could only be revealed in camera.
But yesterday when defence resumed, chairperson of the tribunal, Supreme Court Judge Dennis Chirwa said the name of the State House official should be revealed because he could not be protected like a whistle-blower.
The minister is alleged to have unilaterally cancelled a duly awarded contract by the Zambian National Tender Board (ZNTB) for the supply, installation and commissioning of Air Traffic Management Surveillance Radar Systems at Lusaka and Livingstone airports.
She is also alleged to have awarded RP Capital Partners a US$2-million contract to value Zamtel assets disregarding legal advice from the attorney general and in the last allegation she is said to have abused constituency development funds (CDFs) in Petauke.
In her explanation yesterday, Ms Siliya named the official from State House as Mr Kombe who in the first instance went to her home and said that a Chinese company, ZTE, should be considered on the e-governance tender.
The minister said that although Mr Kombe, who was chief analyst for Press and public relations, maintained that he was sent by the former first lady, she never confirmed if he was an emissary of Mrs Mwanawasa.
She said ZTE was not among the six companies that were earlier short-listed for the tender but Mr Kombe told her that it was important to consider the company and once that was done, she would be well-looked after.
The same company after re-evaluation of the tender ended up being the preferred company and the one that was chosen earlier, Hua Wei was placed at the bottom of the list.
“He also made reference to the former first lady, Maureen Mwanawasa that she was a friend to ZTE, making it sound like the issue was above him,” she said.
She said when she told Mr Kombe that she was new at the ministry and was not aware of the tender in question, he still made follow-ups by phone.
She said the then permanent secretary Eustern Mambwe and director of procurement Isaac Mukupa also admitted having been under intense pressure from Mr Kombe over the same matter.
In her continued defence, she said that she signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with RP Capital Partners of Caymans Island with the blessings of the solicitor general.
She said when she signed the MoU on December 22, 2008, consultations with the attorney general continued, leading to the signing of another MoU on January 9, 2009.
“We signed another agreement this year because even when we signed the first one in December, 2008 we continued to consult because we wanted to have a clearer role of the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) in the evaluation of Zamtel assets,” she said.
She said when the solicitor general wrote to Ms Siliya making suggestions, she instructed the permanent secretary and the director of communications to consider the advice when signing the MoU.
She said then a meeting was held with Commerce, Trade and Industry Minister Felix Mutati, Zamtel board chairman, and RP Capital Partners officials while the minister of Finance sent apologies.
The meeting was held with a view of coming up with a joint Cabinet memorandum and to explain problems Zamtel was facing before seeking advice on the partial privatisation.
In cross-examination by Mr Mutale, she said that RP Capital Partners was the only company that came up with an offer to value Zamtel assets which the ministry was interested in.
Ms Siliya said from August 2008, the issue of Zamtel came up several times in Parliament while several Press queries were also received and a number of companies expressed interest to buy the company or partly the Cell Z.
“Other than the outright purchase of shares in Zamtel, towards the end of September, RP Capital Partners presented a different proposal of evaluation which met our agenda at the time,” she said.
On the Petauke allegation, she said that she had advanced K12.5 million to the council for the drilling of two boreholes before the CDF was disbursed.
She said on October 29, 2008, she was approached by several women in her constituency who complained of water shortage because two pumps had broken down.
She said when she asked the council secretary, Boyd Mboyi on the state of affairs she was told that there was a problem of water and the CDF had not been released.
“After meeting Mr Mboyi and the council chairman Osman Musa, they told me that a water department drilling machine was in Petauke and the officers were only asking for an advance to sink the boreholes,” she said.
The minister said that since she was going back to Lusaka and she only had K7 million, she gave Mr Mboyi K6 million with an assurance that she would add another K6.5 million when she returned to Lusaka. The hearing continues.
[Times of Zambia]
