Maravi

We were instructed to clear Siliya – witness

We were instructed to clear Siliya – witness
Written by Mwala Kalaluka
Tuesday, March 17, 2009 2:14:42 PM

THE tribunal yesterday heard that Petauke council secretary Boyd Mboyi verbally instructed councillors to refute any corruption allegations levelled against communications and transport minister Dora Siliya. And the tribunal heard that some people who were to appear before it to disclose the names of MMD members that threatened witnesses had failed to do so for fear of losing their lives.

This is in a matter where former communications and transport minister William Harrington and ten civil society organisations had asked Chief Justice Ernest Sakala to set up a tribunal to investigate alleged corruption and abuse of office involving Siliya.

Harrington and the ten civil society organisations urged the Justice Sakala to probe Siliya for allegedly breaching the Parliamentary and Ministerial Code of Conduct in her engagement of RP Capital Partners of Cayman Islands to value Zamtel's assets before partial privatisation and her cancellation of a tender that was awarded for the installation of radars at the Lusaka and Livingstone international airports.

Siliya is also being probed over her alleged claims of K12.5 million from Petauke District Council as refund for two hand pumps for two boreholes sunk in Nyika ward, when in fact the hand pumps were procured at K5 million.

During examination-in-chief by one of the complainants' lawyers, Wynter Kabimba, Mawanda Ward councillor John Mwanza, 42, said Mboyi made the verbal recommendation during a special council meeting he called to brief the councilors on the allegations that were reported in the newspapers concerning Siliya.

"Now, what was the recommendation of the council secretary in his report for the council to consider at the meeting?" Kabimba asked Mwanza to which he responded: "The recommendations were verbally."

Mwanza, who is also the chairperson for the land, works and development committee at Petauke District Council, was giving the responses following a series of questions put to him by Kabimba relating to two news articles that appeared in the Times of Zambia and Zambia Daily Mail editions of February 26, 2009.

The article in the Daily Mail was headlined 'Petauke Council defends Siliya' while the one in the Times of Zambia was headlined 'Petauke Council clears Siliya'.

In the two articles, Petauke District Council acting chairman Francis Nkhoma was quoted as having said that a special council meeting had cleared or had found nothing irregular with Siliya's claim for K12.5 million refund over the hand pumps.

Kabimba then asked Mwanza to tell the tribunal what Mboyi recommended to the councillors during the special council meeting.

"He said that the council should refuse that there are no such allegations connected to Ms Siliya," Mwanza responded. "And the other issue was that the council secretary said that since our council is being represented by Shamwana and Company, he said when the case goes to the tribunal we will use the lawyers that Honourable Dora Siliya has already arranged."

Asked by judge Peter Chitengi to explain what he meant by his statement that they were told to refute the allegations against Siliya, Mwanza said the councillors were told to say that the allegations were not true.

He further said only four councillors commented on the recommendation during the special council meeting. Mwanza said he was the fourth one to speak on the matter.

"In the meeting I said that it was sad that this issue has come at this time, all along it was not heard. I went on to say that since this issue is heading to a tribunal it is good that transparency will prevail," he testified.

"I warned my fellow councillors to say we are the ones who initiated this case, whatever we do in the dark corners, there is no secret in this world. That we must be careful as councillors."

Mwanza said during the process of finding the way forward on the suspected financial mismanagement at the local authority, Petauke Council chairman Ousman Musa was suspended.

Mwanza said Musa's decision to lock up the council offices was made during a consultative meeting he held with chairpersons of the standing committees, the officer-in-charge at Petauke Police and an official from the Office of the President, sometime in January.

Mwanza said the lock up led to Musa's suspension on grounds that he had not followed Ministry of Local Government and Housing regulations in the undertaking.

And the lawyer for the ten civil society organisations that had petitioned justice Sakala over Siliya's K12.5 million claim of refund withdrew his allegations that some MMD members were threatening witnesses in the matter.

Eddie Mwitwa said he was left with no option but to withdraw the allegation after the people that were supposed to identify the individuals behind the threats of harassment refused to do so for fear of reprisals.

"The reason advanced, my lord, is that the witnesses say they are fearing for their positions in the ruling party and indeed for their own lives," he said. "Under the circumstances, I am left in an awkward position and indeed only left with the option of withdrawing the allegation...I will unreservedly withdraw it and apologise to the tribunal for, perhaps, having brought this allegation without getting concrete instructions."

One of Siliya's lawyers, Eric Silwamba said Mwitwa had taken a very honourable and courageous step in withdrawing the allegation that he made from the bar.

However, Silwamba said Mwitwa's withdrawal was an indictment on the judicial system that the protection and freedom of witnesses was inadequate.

Silwamba said in his few years on the bar, he had confidence that the judicial system had enough powers to punish for contempt.

Tribunal chairperson judge Dennis Chirwa described Mwitwa's withdrawal as honourable and a good show for his membership to the Zambian legal system.

Judge Chirwa advised the lawyers not to be emotionally attached to some issues involving their clients.

Meanwhile, a witness from Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) said he was confident that Siliya was making a K12.5 million claim of refund from Petauke District Council in her capacity as the Minister of Transport and Communications more than a parliamentarian.

Francis Mwale from the TIZ's Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre (ALAC) told the tribunal that he had extensively perused through the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) guidelines and the Cabinet Hand Book before he made a complaint against Siliya's alleged K12.5 million claim of refund from Petauke Council.

Mwale said during examination-in-chief by Mwitwa that he had learnt from the Cabinet Hand Book that ministers' constituency work should be at their own expense and that they should do it as if they were ordinary parliamentarians.

He said he could confidently say that Siliya was making a claim as a minister because her letter of claim was on a Ministry of Transport and Communication headed paper.

When told by judge Chirwa that Siliya had signed both MP and Minister of Transport and Communications on the letter, Mwale said he was of the view that she was making the claim using her ministerial position because of the ministerial headed paper.

In cross-examination, Silwamba asked if he would not be surprised if he found out that the boreholes concerned were drilled or sunk by the Ministry of Energy and Water Development in Chipata. Mwale said the thrust of his complaints was not on who sunk the two boreholes but on Siliya's claim for refund on the hand pumps.

Silwamba also told Mwale that the invoice that TIZ had obtained from Saro Agric Equipment and produced as evidence before the tribunal had mistakes.

But Mwale said that was up to the people who wrote the invoice to say.

Hearing in the matter continues today.

Labels: BOYD MBOYI, CORRUPTION, DORA SILIYA, PETAUKE, RP CAPITAL PARTNERS, WILLIAM HARRINGTON

posted by MrK @ 2:14 PM