Maravi

Probe Dora, Harrington petitions Chief Justice

Probe Dora, Harrington petitions Chief Justice
Written by George Chellah and Patson Chilemba
Tuesday, February 17, 2009 5:04:31 PM

FORMER communications and transport minister William Harrington yesterday petitioned the Chief Justice to appoint a tribunal to investigate Dora Siliya for allegedly breaching the Parliamentary and Ministerial Code of Conduct Act.

Harrington submitted the complaint in a letter dated February 16, 2009 to Acting Chief Justice Ireen Mambilima on the alleged breach of Part II of the Parliamentary and Ministerial Code of Conduct Act, Cap 16 of the Laws of Zambia by communications and transport minister Dora Siliya.

“I refer to the above quoted subject matter and hereby submit to your office a complaint pursuant to section 13(1) as read together with section 4(a) and (b) of the Parliamentary and Ministerial Code of Conduct in respect of the Honourable Minister of Transport and Communication Dora Siliya,” read Harrington's letter in part. “The particulars of the alleged breaches are as hereunder: That the Honourable Minister of Transport and Communications against professional advice of the learned Attorney General did award a contract in the sum of US $2, 000, 000 to RP Capital Partners of Cayman Islands to value the Zamtel assets without due regard and/or compliance with the provisions of the Zambia National Tender Board Act, Cap 394 of the Laws of Zambia.

“That the Honourable Minister of Transport and Communications did arbitrarily cancel a duly awarded contract by the Zambia National Tender Board (ZNTB) for the supply, delivery and installation of a Zambia Air Traffic Management Surveillance Radar System at Lusaka and Livingstone in favour of SELEX Sistemi Integrati Company from Italy. The ZNTB had awarded the contract to Thales Air Systems of South Africa as the successful bidder.”

Harrington further stated: “The above allegations are contained in The Post newspapers editions dated Thursday 12th February, 2009 and Friday 13th February, 2009 and copies of the articles are herewith enclosed for your attention. I hope your office will take the necessary steps under section 13(3) of the Act to allow for the thorough investigation of these allegations by an independent and competent tribunal.”

And commenting on the recent tender scams involving Siliya, PF president Michael Sata asked Zambians to use the laws provided for them in the Constitution to make notorious government officials accountable.

“First of all, I would like to commend William Harrington for the step he has taken to make them accountable. Each piece of legislation has views to protect Zambians. Now we will encourage all members of the public to take advantage of this law instead of waiting for state machinery,” Sata said.

“It's [corruption] unbearable. Rupiah Banda and Dora Siliya's rot has become unbearable. Not only has it become unbearable, it has become intolerable.”

Sata charged that President Banda and those surrounding him wanted to amass wealth within a short period because they were not sure of coming back after 2011.

“There is corruption everywhere. There is corruption in ministry of communications, lands, local government where up to today, you have not elected mayors. It's because they won a fraudulent election. They have nothing to offer to the people,” said Sata.

Last month, Attorney General Mumba Malila strongly criticised Siliya's decision to proceed to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with RP Capital Partners Limited over the partial privatisation of Zamtel shares in total disregard of legal advice from his office.

But President Banda backed Siliya, arguing that she was on the right track regarding the partial privatisation of Zamtel.

According to the MoU, the Zambian government will pay to RP a fee amounting to five per cent of the negotiated amount and would get US $2 million (about K10.3 billion) as transaction fees at the end of the transaction.

But Siliya told Parliament last Friday that RP Capital was the only company that expressed interest in valuating the assets of Zamtel.

On the other scam, highly placed sources within Zambia National Tender Board (ZNTB) revealed that Siliya's cancellation of a duly awarded contract for the supply, delivery, installation and commissioning of the Zambia Air Traffic Management Surveillance Radar System (ZATM-RADAR) at Lusaka and Livingstone international airports, was meant to accommodate SELEX Sistemi Integrati, a company from Italy, which has been single-sourced, contrary to professional advice from officials in her ministry, National Airports Corporation (NAC) and ZNTB.

Labels: DORA SILIYA, SATA, WILLIAM HARRINGTON

posted by MrK @ 5:04 PM