Maravi

Mutati is raising the standards of public accountability

Mutati is raising the standards of public accountability
By Editor
Mon 21 June 2010, 04:00 CAT

To begin with, we would like to refer to the saying of Lenin, that the attitude – that is to say, the seriousness of purpose of a party is measured, basically, by the attitude it takes toward its own errors. And in the same way, the seriousness of purpose of members of a government will be measured by the attitude they take toward their own errors.

Of course, their political opponents are always alert to know what those errors are. When those errors are made and are not subjected to self-criticism, their opponents take advantage of them in a crippling way. When those errors are made and are subjected to self-criticism, they may be used by their political opponents, but in a very different way and less crippling manner.

It is in this light that we see the admission by Felix Mutati, the Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry, that there is a lot of abuse in our construction sector as most contractors are ineffective and overpricing on public works as a progressive approach. Mutati says Zambians are tired of undelivered services by contractors. And he wondered why it cost US $150,000 to construct a kilometre tar stretch in Egypt while constructing the same distance in Zambia costs US$1 million.

There is need to hide nothing from the masses of our people. If there are difficulties, mistakes, failures, those difficulties, mistakes, failures shouldn’t be masked. It’s only in this way that we will be able to overcome the challenges and problems facing our country and our people.

There is need for self-criticism in whatever we do because conscientious practice of self-criticism will help us overcome many problems and improve the delivery of services to our people. Self-criticism helps us to get rid of a bad style and keep the good. We should fear neither criticism nor self-criticism.

Let us learn something from the Chinese maxims of “Say all you know and say it without reserve”, “Blame not the speaker but be warned by his words” and “Correct mistakes if you have committed them and guard against them if you have not”.

If those in government have shortcomings, they should not be afraid to have them pointed out and criticised, because they serve the people. Anyone, no matter who, may point out such shortcomings. If he is right, they should be corrected. If what they propose will benefit the people, it should be acted upon.

This is the second time in less than a week that we are expressing agreement with what Felix has said. Early last week, we commended Felix for recognising his mistaken position on the issue of the valuation of Zamtel and apologising to the Zambian people for saying what he shouldn’t have said. This is the honesty we need and want to see from all our political leaders. Consistently practiced, political honesty is a road that leads man’s mind and will to the ideal of a more just, fair and humane society.

No honest person in this country can disagree with Felix’s observations and conclusions that there is a lot of abuse in our construction sector. This is one of the most corrupt sectors of our economy. And this is not a secret.

Felix wonders why a stretch of one kilometre tar costs US $150,000 in Egypt and the same is costing US $1 million in Zambia. There is a simple explanation to this: corruption.

We are paying so highly for poor roads because of corruption. Contracts to construct roads are being given to people with no capacity to do the job. Why? The simple answer is that doing so is beneficial to those charged with the task of awarding such contracts. Most of these contracts go to individuals with strong connections to the ruling party and to those in government. The spoils are shared among them. The construction jobs are overpriced because part of the money goes back to those giving the contracts, to those in power and sometimes to the ruling party for financing election campaigns. There is very little merit in awarding these contracts.

Road construction and maintenance is a big scandal in this country. If all those involved in it were today to be investigated by an independent agency, very few would be found not wanting. There are many government officers and officials who receive kickbacks in the form of houses, farms, automobiles and so on and so forth from people who have been awarded construction jobs by the government. Where there is this type of corruption, accountability is killed.

And when accountability dies, quality control also goes with it. Today we have many road projects which the government has paid for but, as Felix correctly observes, they have not been completed, and nobody is taken to task. People are simply stealing public funds through road projects. We have some of the worst scandals in the feeder roads. Every year, huge allocations are being made for the same roads and paid to the same contractors but no improvement. We have contractors getting more than US$50 million for road works with no delivery or if there is delivery, it is always poor delivery.

And most of these contractors enjoy very close relations with people occupying very high political offices. They are untouchable. They are the financiers of presidents. How can anyone, given the political order in our country today, question them?

Today we have contractors who used to work for government, got fired for wrongdoing and then set themselves up in the construction industry being hired to do government jobs by the same ministry where they were fired. The industry is full of crooked characters of all shades, some of them close associates and family members of those in power. What can one expect from such a motley assortment of all sorts of corrupt elements?

But the question is: why is construction so prone to corruption? We cannot say that everyone in this industry is corrupt. There is a significant number of organisations and individuals in this industry who try to avoid corruption at all costs. The majority of contractors who do engage in corrupt practices tend to do so not because they want to, but because they feel they are forced to by the way the industry and political environment operate. And the huge costs of projects in the construction sector make it easier to hide bribes and inflated claims, a factor compounded by the fact that many construction projects are one-off and costs difficult to compare. This is a highly regulated sector with the requirement for permits every step of the way, making it relatively easy for officials to extract bribes. Every single link in the contractual chain provides an opportunity for bribes to be paid for certifying either too much work or defective work, granting extensions of time, more expeditious payment and so on. On top of this, there is ample scope for concealing work in a situation where most components in a structure end up being concealed.

The best roads we have in our country today are not the ones directly maintained or constructed by our government. Our best roads are those which the donors have directly funded and supervised. Probably it will be better for donors who are really interested in the welfare of our people never to directly give our government money for roads. They should simply agree with the government which road needs to be done and then go ahead and do it themselves.

An example of this is the Kapiri Mposhi-Serenje road which the donors funded and directly supervised. We have a good road and probably for the right price.

There is need for the Zambian people to pay a lot of attention to what is happening in the construction sector, especially the road maintenance side of things. There are huge amounts of money being lost by the government here, being stolen by all sorts of unscrupulous businessmen in collusion with government officials. In this regard, the Ministry of Works and Supply needs to be scrutinised and all it does subjected to a close public eye because a lot of bad things have happened here. Today donors have suspended support to the Road Development Agency because of corruption. But those in charge of the Ministry of Works and Supply have been claiming all is well, the donors are not telling the truth. We wonder what they will say tomorrow about what Felix has said. We will not be surprised to see Felix coming under attack from his own government colleagues who have been benefitting from this corruption.

This corruption in the construction sector affects us as individuals directly. We are paying levy on every litre of fuel we buy and it will be irresponsible for us to just stand by and watch that money being stolen. Poor roads are destroying our automobiles and making the cost of transport very high. When the cost of transport is high, the consumer, the common man, pays very highly for his daily needs. This being the case, why should the Zambian people keep quiet over poor roads? The issue of roads should be put very high on the agenda for next year’s elections.

Felix is showing the Zambian people the way things should be done. He is teaching us something about public accountability. We should not shy away from pointing out deficiencies or inefficiencies in the way government business is conducted. There is need for us to engage government on the way it is using our money and money given to us by donors. This money does not belong to those running the government, it belongs to all of us.

Labels: CONSTRUCTION, FELIX MUTATI, FLAME ARAB CONSTRUCTION

posted by MrK @ 5:49 AM