Levy urges Chirwa to be a branch official
Levy urges Chirwa to be a branch officialBy Chibaula Silwamba
Monday January 07, 2008 [03:00]
President Levy Mwanawasa has said he would not campaign for a thief if such a man were elected to succeed him. And President Mwanawasa has advised MMD presidential aspirant Professor Clive Chirwa to contest branch elections and rise gradually in the party. Addressing a fairly attended political rally at Chiutika Basic School in chief Munkhanya’s area in Mambwe on Saturday, President Mwanawasa said he was strongly against corruption. He urged MMD members to be careful in choosing his successor and other party officials.
“Mr. Provincial chairman, the party elections you have announced, which have started at the lower organs; I want you to ensure that wrong people do not come into the party leadership. I want only people who have integrity,” President Mwanawasa said.
He warned that if the MMD would chose corrupt people as candidates, he would not campaign for such candidates, instead he would go to his Teka Farm in Ndola .
“My elder brother Mr. Chiluba a few days ago was saying there is more corruption than there was in his government. I disagreed with him. I said that he can say there is more corruption because we are exposing crimes as it happen but during his period he hid them under the carpet,” President Mwanawasa said. “Those of you who read the interview I gave to The Post, I was not saying that corruption is not there in Zambia in the public service now.
I am saying it has gone a bit down. There is still a lot of corruption now and I am disappointed at the fact that despite all the strong messages my colleagues and I have given, corruption is still there. It means that leaders at whatever level in the MMD must have integrity, avoid corruption and must condemn it.
“…and let me make a public undertaking here at Mambwe; if you elect a person who I know is a thief, he is a corrupt person, I will not be available to support him. I won’t campaign for a corrupt candidate; I will go to Teka Farm.”
President Mwanawasa said there were people who felt that he should not participate in deciding who should take over from him but as a leader, one of his tasks was to provide guidance to the nation.
“We have achieved a lot of things over the past six years, it will be over the past 10 years when I retire, and I don’t want all that to go to waste.
I want my successor to improve on what we have achieved,” President Mwanawasa said. “It’s not about supporting a leader because he has given you some money for gratification, supporting him because he is your cousin, tribesman, no. There must be high levels of integrity. As President of Zambia, I therefore give warning to all the presidential candidates that you must have integrity.”
President Mwanawasa said one of the strong points that had guided his leadership was integrity to condemn corruption.
“I believe this has won us international accolades and I believe this has won us investor confidence and I believe this has won us reaching HIPC completion point,” he said.
In an apparent reference to Prof Chirwa, President Mwanawasa said there was a certain Zambian based in the United Kingdom who thinks he should come back and become Republican president in 2011.
“A few days ago, I was accosting a certain Zambian who has been in the UK for 20 years. He comes and he thinks all of us 12.5 million Zambians are not intelligent and capable of choosing a leader, but he must come like Jesus,” President Mwanawasa said as the audience shouted ‘Prof Chirwa’. “We welcome him in the party; let him contest the elections at branch level.
Let him catch up with what he has lost. As a Zambian who left Zambia a long time ago, he has lost Zambian domicility so he must acquire Zambian domicility. When he has acquired Zambian domicility, then let him talk about leadership. So many things have happened. When he left, he was a young boy but now Zambia is 20 years older.”
While President Mwanawasa was speaking, several people were heard shouting against Prof Chirwa though others were heard murmuring that most people in the MMD leadership were just scared of Prof Chirwa’s high calibre.
And President Mwanawasa announced that he had blacklisted Tomorrow Investments from doing government work and whoever would give the company any contract would be guilty of theft and would be prosecuted.
President Mwanawasa made the announcement after works and supply minister Kapembwa Simbao told the audience that government had terminated Tomorrow Investments contract on a section of the Chipata-Mfuwe Road after it failed to complete the project.
“We had a contribution from Honourable Simbao who talked about Chisengu-Mfuwe Road part of Chipata-Mfuwe Road which ZAWA gave to Tomorrow Investments to work on,” President Mwanawasa said. “He has told us that Tomorrow Investments was found wanting but there are problems to terminate the contract because the contract they signed, there was no termination clause. But in your explanation you are saying that you tried to terminate the contract two times and third time you have terminated and given to somebody else.
“My conclusion is that, and I am rarely wrong, either ZAWA wanted the confusion to continue because they were benefiting or when RDA came into the picture, wanted the confusion to continue because they were benefiting but when it was discovered that the President is going to Mfuwe, he had talked about this road in the past three years ago, that was when the contract was terminated.”
President Mwanawasa said there was no need for a contract termination clause for a contract to be terminated. He said provided there was proof that the contractor had failed, the contract could be terminated.
President Mwanawasa said he found several projects throughout the country which Tomorrow Investments had failed to finish or abandoned despite being paid up front.
“When this information reached my office I wrote to Marina Nsingo who was minister of works and yourself Simbao that from now on don’t give contracts to Tomorrow Investments but I get surprised that they continue to get contracts.
The thing is that they are thieves, they award contracts to their friends and share money,” President Mwanawasa said. “Our people are saying the government is not working. You have mentioned huge figures of money which we are going to spend on the roads but projects are not finished just because companies like Tomorrow Investments are given jobs.”
President Mwanawasa said he had powers under Article 33 of the Constitution which he would use to deal with such situations.
“I am invoking my powers under this article, Tomorrow Investments is hereby blacklisted,” declared President Mwanawasa as the audience cheered and supported him. “They are not to be given any government work. Whoever gives them the government work will be guilty of theft and will be equally answerable.”
He revealed that Tomorrow Investments had been given to construct a hospital in Shang’ombo but had failed over a period of six years.
He said he had directed that the contract be terminated and the directors of the company should be arrested and prosecuted but was surprised that nothing had happened up to now.
President Mwanawasa said Tomorrow Investments had failed to finish the construction of a school in Chisamba and other projects in Western, Southern and Eastern provinces.
“How do they get these contracts?” President Mwanawasa asked. “I am directing whoever is in charge at the ministry to compile all the records and take them to the Auditor General so that the docket could be opened for the police to take action.”
He wondered why the Ministry of Works and Supply continued to give contracts to Tomorrow Investments.
“I have disclosed all this because I want the public to assist me. If you see Tomorrow Investments being awarded a contract, report to State House and you will be rewarded. Uzamwa moba mpaka ukachitekuluka. You will drink a lot of beer until you vomit,” President Mwanawasa said.
“Zambian contractors, we want to empower you but you are letting us down. Instead of giving the job to Zambian contractor, I will give it to a Chinese, South African, Germany company because we can’t continue losing so much money.”
President Mwanawasa warned that whoever abused public resources would be prosecuted and convicted.
“I’m leaving in 2011; I am going to Teka Farms while you are going to Chimbokaila prison,” he warned.
President Mwanawasa also accused the chiefs in Mambwe district of having cheated him that they did not receive the Community Resource Board (CRB) funds when in fact records proved that they had been given the money.
“I met chiefs from Mambwe and they complained that they don’t receive the money from ZAWA so can I intervene on their behalf. I took the Minister of Tourism to task,” he said.
President Mwanawasa said thereafter, tourism minister Michael Kaingu summoned the director general of the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) who brought the cheques that proved that chiefs received the money.
“I told the provincial minister that these cheques show that their royal highnesses received the money so can you find out from their royal highnesses if they received this money? If they received can they tell me why they decided to mislead me?” President Mwanawasa said. “Up to now, I haven’t received their comments.”
He said when he met the chiefs a few days ago, he asked them about the issue but they could not give him a satisfactory answer.
“How do you develop the country like that if you can’t trust anybody?” President Mwanawasa asked. “I have given directives here at Mambwe that this CRB funds, ZAWA should ensure that chiefs are given five per cent and 95 per cent should be given to CRB boards who must at the end of each year account to ZAWA what they have used that money on for people’s benefit. That money should be used on development.”
President Mwanawasa also complained that most beneficiaries of the Fertilizer Support Programme were selling the fertilizer.
“One of our strengths under my leadership has been agricultural production. This has won us a lot of popularity here in Eastern Province,” he said. “Now this year we have provided some fertilizer support, not at the same level as we did last year but I had a meeting with their royal highnesses. What I was told by their royal highnesses is that rather than concentrate on the shortage of fertilizer, they mentioned the bad things that are happening in the co-operatives by fertilizer distributors and even the residents of this area.
They get fertiliser under Fertiliser Support Programme and sale it to others either locally or in Malawi.”
President Mwanawasa said this indicated that most people did not need the fertilizer support.
“So in future you shouldn’t be surprised if government comes up with a policy saying we are scrapping off the fertilizer support,” he said. “Instead of subsiding by 40 per cent on a few people only who misuse this facility, I would rather we subsidise for everybody by 25 per cent, that will be more reasonable.”
President Mwanawasa also observed that the constituency Development Fund was being abused.
“The money is withdrawn and after that the projects are not completed. Yes, you have increased the CDF from K30 million to K60 million to K200 million now to K400 million and that money should be used for development in the constituency.
I am giving you directives; the Minister of Local Government and Housing you should ensure that the money which is released to the constituency are accountable to you,” President Mwanawasa directed. “They should tell you this is the projects where the money was used. I was very encouraged with your example, you bought a tractor for your constituency.”
However, President Mwanawasa said he watched a certain member of parliament on TV who complained that K200 million CDF was not enough and should be increased up to K1 billion.
He said unfortunately, that member of parliament had not done any developmental project in his constituency to show how he used that K200 million to warrant him to get the K1 billion.
“I want this money to be accounted for,” President Mwanawasa said. “Take whoever does not account for the CDF money to police. He will not bewitch you for taking him to police.”
Earlier local government and housing minister Sylvia Masebo revealed that government plans to increase CDF from the current K200 million to K400 million. At the same rally, President Mwanawasa also handed over 18 ambulances to hospitals and district health boards in Eastern Province.
“We are doing this throughout the country,” said President Mwanawasa. “We intend to buy ambulances one per constituency.”
President Mwanawasa left Mfuwe yesterday after spending a two-week holiday in the area.
Labels: CLIVE CHIRWA, CORRUPTION, GOVERNANCE, MMD, MWANAWASA, PRESIDENCY
posted by MrK @ 7:23 AM
5 Comments:
What would professor Chirwa do, as a branch official?
Telling people to 'wait' and 'cool their heels' is not leadership at all. It smacks of a panic.
Why should professor Chirwa waste his time and talent being a branch official?
And what is the track record of branch officials becoming President.
Clive Chirwa wants to make a difference, and the only way to do that is through the most powerful office in the land. Too muchpower is vested in the presidency, but there it is.
Why waste time?
What is the benefit of dulling someone's ambition and energy by making them do some menial party job? It doesn't seem like good human resource management to me. Perhaps that is the leadership problem that exists?
Levy Mwanawasa seems more interested in appointing someone who won't prosecute him when he leaves office.
Spot on Mr K. Its Obvious he is not boot licking, just for the record apart from the law record was mwanawasa a branch leader or the likes I have no clue?
And by the way well done youre our own version of nick robinson hope youll put more stuff for us to think on happy new year! Mr K.
Barbs...
And a happy New Year to you too.
Its Obvious he is not boot licking, just for the record apart from the law record was mwanawasa a branch leader or the likes I have no clue?
All I remember is that Chiluba chose him because he thought he would be controllable and wouldn't prosecute him when he didn't get his third term.
I wouldn't be surprised if somethings similar was going on in the election/appointment of the next MMD President.
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