Maravi

Civil society organisations defend Malila, Sichinga

Civil society organisations defend Malila, Sichinga
Written by George Chellah
Sunday, April 26, 2009 3:03:25 PM

CIVIL society organisations (CSOs) yesterday advised President Rupiah Banda against tabling the RP Capital Partners Limited memorandum of understanding (MoU) before Cabinet. And the CSOs have accused State House of using the Attorney General's chambers as a scapegoat to the tribunal's findings on former communications minister Dora Siliya.

Reacting to President Banda's announcement that he would table the RP Capital Partners MoU before Cabinet for determination, the CSOs urged Cabinet to uphold and defend the Constitution.

"The President should not table an MoU, which is a nullity before Cabinet unless he will be confirming that he is part of it. There is nowhere in the laws of Zambia, which permit, legitimising illegal activities like the unconstitutional MoU. It is very clear that the illegal MoU as the tribunal concluded should rest on Honourable Siliya's shoulders," the CSOs stated.

"We want to offer timely advice that it is dangerous for Cabinet to legalise Hon Siliya's breach of the Republican Constitution. Instead, they need to uphold and defend the Constitution by not legalising an unconstitutional MoU."

They stated that it was very clear that Siliya started by breaching the public procurement Act before the office of the Attorney General came into the picture as noted by the tribunal on her purported limited selection conduct.

"The Attorney General's chambers cannot therefore be faulted for her clear breaches as she did not invite them to the meetings she was holding with RP Capital. We should not allow the public to be misled and deceived at this point as the tribunal report is very clear that Honourable Siliya did not only breach the Constitution but other laws and the Cabinet Handbook too," the CSOs stated.

"We still appeal to the President to fire Honourable Kunda and all those who have continued misleading him on this matter. Even Honourable Siliya in her reaction has not denied breaching the various laws and the Republican Constitution in her conduct. No one can claim being misled as defence. We therefore do not agree that the Attorney General's chambers misled her as she misled herself from the word go by not following the public procurement Act and Cabinet Handbook in the first instance."

The CSOs commended the Attorney General's office for showing professionalism on this matter.

"The blame on the Attorney General's chambers is therefore completely misplaced and unjustified. Honourable George Kunda and she are responsible for their own misleading, unlawful and unconstitutional actions. Honourable Kunda must not wait to be fired in embarrassing circumstances. He should also resign honourably," they stated.

They further expressed their grave concern at the manner in which State House reacted to the report of the tribunal.

"A reminder of tribunal findings of facts. At page 42 and 43, the tribunal states the following: 'the advice of the Attorney General of the 5th January, 2009 was that the first memorandum of understanding be treated as a nullity and be re-done. His advice was not that a second memorandum of understanding concerning the role of the Zambia Development Agency be signed. Further, the role spelt out for the Zambia Development Agency in the second memorandum of understanding is merely that of providing supervision over RP Capital Partners Limited. Therefore, the second memorandum did not address the chief concerns raised by the Attorney General. At this juncture, we note that the provisions of the Zambia Development Agency Act, No. 11 of 2008 do not give powers to a minister to do what Hon. Dora Siliya did. The action she took unlawfully usurped the powers of the Zambia Development Agency'," the CSOs stated.

"At page 43 the tribunal concluded that: 'Therefore we agree with the Attorney-General that the Memorandum of Understanding which was the preliminary stage leading to the final sale and transfer of the assets of ZAMTEL should have been signed by the Minister of Finance. That aspect of the Attorney General's letter of the 5th January 2009 was not addressed'. The tribunal in their report, on page 47 states the following: 'It is clear that the manner in which RP Capital Partners were selected was against the provisions of the public procurement Act. The evidence clearly shows that RP Capital Partners went to the ministry through the Hon. Dora Siliya. Therefore, the omission must squarely be put on the shoulders of the Hon. Dora Siliya. Therefore we find that the Minister of Communications and Transport did not follow the requisite tender process in the selection of RP Capital Partners Limited. It is not the law that the 'limited selection' occurs when a supplier of goods and services presents a different proposal from others.'

"At page 41, the tribunal makes the following observation: 'On the 22nd December, 2008, Hon. Dora Siliya went ahead to sign a memorandum of understanding which was not substantially the same as the draft which the Solicitor General had cleared for signing in that in the memorandum of understanding signed on the 22nd December, 2008 there was introduced a new element regarding the financial implications. There was now inserted a base floor sum of US$ two million. This was not contained in the final draft, which the Solicitor General approved. In the circumstances, Hon. Dora Siliya cannot plead that she was following the advice of the Solicitor General in its entirety.' Thus, one wonders what State House is talking about when they said that the tribunal found a matter of fact that there was confusion in the Attorney General's chambers. To us, this is a scapegoat as the report of the tribunal is very clear and was written in simple language."

The statement was issued by the first complainant, William Harrington and the ten CSOs namely, Transparency International Zambia, Civil Society for Trade Network of Zambia, Southern Centre for Constructive Resolution of Disputes, Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection, Citizens Forum, Civil Society for Poverty Reduction, Foundation for Democratic Process, Zambia Youths Association in the Fight Against Corruption, Women for Change and Caritas Zambia.

Labels: CIVIL SOCIETY, PRIVATISATION, RP CAPITAL PARTNERS

posted by MrK @ 2:05 PM