Maravi

Rupiah wanted a cut from $53m deal - HH

Rupiah wanted a cut from $53m deal - HH
Written by George Chellah and Chibaula Silwamba
Thursday, May 07, 2009 3:29:10 PM

UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema yesterday described the US$ 53 million mobile hospitals deal as a white-collar crime in which President Rupiah Banda and the MMD want to get a commission.

And Federation of Free Trade Unions of Zambia (FFTUZ) president Joyce Nonde-Simukoko questioned the sincerity of the Chinese government when it distanced itself from the mobile hospitals deal when in fact, the company involved is owned by the Chinese government.

Reacting to the visiting Chinese government special representative on African Affairs Ambassador Liu Guijin's statement that his government did not play any role in the mobile hospital deal, Hichilema urged the nation to squarely put the blame on the Zambian government and President Banda in particular.

"In the story today, the Chinese are saying no, it is not them who should decide for Zambia. It is the Zambian leaders that should decide. And this is still what it should be because the responsibility to make decisions on Zambia's development is on the Zambian government," Hichilema said.

"The only difference with the present government is that they are a selfish government and the party that is in office is completely tired and has stopped looking after the interests of the people of Zambia. Other than their own interests... we know that they want to buy these mobile hospitals so that they raise money for the 2011 elections and commissions as usual."

Asked whether he implied that someone in government wanted to get a commission from the deal, Hichilema responded: "Absolutely, there is no question about that."

When asked who that person could be, Hichilema laughed before answering: "The government, the MMD and its President. The MMD and its President wanted to get a commission and we should not allow them to get commission by acquiring debt, which every Zambian will have to pay in future. And they get the commission for their personal agendas as well as the political agendas."

He said the mobile hospital deal was a corrupt transaction.

"We said this the last time that, that's what this mobile hospital deal is all about... it's not about the sick Zambian in Shang'ombo or Kaputa. It is about the MMD and its leadership raising money for elections with some of the money going to personal pockets. This is what is called white-collar crime. This is definitely white-collar crime, corruption of the highest order," he said.

Hichilema said Zambians must now realise where the problem lies in the planned procurement of mobile hospitals.

"I think the problem is not in the Chinese because the Chinese cannot make decisions for Zambia. It is Zambians who should make decisions for themselves. Now we have the wrong Zambians in the name of the leadership of the MMD who are making bad decisions on their behalf. Acquiring debt, you know they are increasing our debt stock. We just had a HIPC qualification, which was so painful to the people of Zambia," Hichilema said.

"Now we have a situation where people are acquiring debt for the nation for personal gains, that's unacceptable. How are we going to fight corruption if corruption is in the highest office in the land? This is what we reminded the people of Zambia just a few months ago during the campaigns that this leadership is corrupt, this MMD is corrupt and we must take it out if we have to see a future in Zambia.

"Look at now the mining jobs that have been lost. There is no strong leadership in the Rupiah Banda leadership. It's a tired leadership, there is no question about that. One doesn't have to be too clever to see. You have to have just common sense to see that this leadership is not strong, this leadership is corrupt and this leadership is tired.

"I ask all Zambians to come together. We must unite to take out the MMD government come 2011. In fact, it's so painful... how we shall survive up to 2011, only God knows under this corrupt leadership that is concerned about itself only."

He said President Banda must apologise to the nation. Hichilema insisted that President Banda speaks highly of things that are meant to benefit him, his party and his family.

"You know, the problem we have with this President, he praises and tries to advance causes that are meant to reward him personally. And when these things are against the wishes of the Zambian people, he tries to use presidency to force his way through. He did that on Dora Siliya and Zamtel, when he was telling us that Dora was smarter than all of us. You know, I keep on laughing about it that Dora is smarter than all of us. I really don't understand," laughed Hichilema. "I will never understand but because he was blinded by his personal greed and his desire to earn a commission on the RP Capital Partners contract. So he talked before he realised whether Zambians where in agreement or not. Now he says mobile hospitals are a damn good thing. What does he mean by that? A damn good thing for Rupiah and company? It is not a damn good thing, that's a terrible thing for Zambia."

Hichilema said President Banda had been caught in his own lies.

"He is behaving like a little partridge. Let me explain it this way, if you plant your maize, as it is germinating the seed is soft and it's now appetising to the partridge and the partridge goes in the field and the owner of the field scares it away. The partridge thinks it's extremely clever and runs in a direction where it thinks the thicket is and it runs straight in a trap and it gets caught," Hichilema explained whilst suppressing laughter.

"Now when it gets caught, it can never deny that it was eating the maize because when you kill it and you open its bowels you will find that there is maize. I’m simply saying he is caught once more in his web of deceit and personal interest. On a serious note, we cannot have a leadership like this. I am not too sure how long Zambians can tolerate this. I can tell you, the only reason why those things were coming was for a corrupt commission, number two to use them for the campaigns. Please write it just as strong as I have put it don't feel sorry for me."

And Nonde-Simukoko challenged the Chinese government to tell the truth because it was clear that CATIC was a state-owned company.

"We have looked at the website www.catic.com.cn/en and we are shocked that the Chinese government representatives are distancing their government from the US $53 million mobile hospital deal when in fact the official website of China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corporation (CATIC), the company involved in this deal, confirms that it is a large scale state-owned conglomerate," Nonde-Simukoko said.

According to the official website, CATIC is a state-owned company headquartered in Beijing, China.

"China National Aero-Technology Import & Export Corporation (CATIC), was established in 1979, is owned by Aviation Industry Corporation of China. It is a large scale state-owned conglomerate with aviation products & technology import and export as its core business. Headquartered in Beijing," states CATIC.

Nonde-Simukoko challenged the government to quickly issue a comprehensive statement on the US$ 53 million deal.

"We have a right to get correct information as Zambians on the issue and as such, we expect the [Zambian] government to give a full report on what this is all about so that we can make an informed decision because just to have mobile hospitals, we feel as a union, that it will be more costly than having a permanent structure in a district. Short term it's expensive but long term it's cheap," Nonde-Simukoko said.

"These mobile hospitals; (1) it's not guaranteed that it can provide good services. Look at our road infrastructure; it's not even possible that this mobile hospital can reach the patient at the right time. (2) These mobile hospitals will be highly abused and in the end, we don't even have the control mechanism to ensure that actually this is a mobile hospital. The road infrastructure is nothing to discuss. What about the repairs because of the poor road network? The cost will be too high for the government to contain."

She said the government must have a budget for constructing hospitals in each district and start working on that.

"We must build good structures at provincial level and then move to the district level and then we go down to the chiefdom level. Honestly that should be the priority and we don't want to be quarrelling on things that we should not be quarrelling on," said Nonde-Simukoko. "Whether the Chinese government is involved or not for FFTUZ it's not an issue, it's just not a good decision at all and it will not help the people."

On Monday, visiting Chinese government special representative on African affairs Ambassador Liu Guijin said the Chinese government did not play any role in the US$53 million mobile hospitals deal.

But according to a letter dated April 28, 2009 and addressed to Department for International Development (DFID), health permanent secretary Dr Velepi Mtonga stated that President Banda indicated during the official opening of the National Assembly that the government would procure mobile clinics from a friendly country to complement efforts to construct 15 hospitals in the 19 districts that did not currently have any.

And last Sunday, President Rupiah Banda said the concept of mobile hospitals was a "damn good idea" from the Chinese.

Labels: CORRUPTION, HAKAINDE HICHILEMA, HEALTHCARE, INTERNET, JOYCE NONDE, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 2:31 PM