State House is like a den of deals – Mpombo

State House is like a den of deals – Mpombo
By Patson Chilemba
Tue 20 July 2010, 04:02 CAT

GEORGE Mpombo yesterday asked President Rupiah Banda and his government to come out clean on the 25 million Euro deal with Philips. Reacting to statements by the government that there was no existing contract between the government and Philips, Mpombo, who is Kafulafuta MMD member of parliament, argued that the government was not telling the truth.

“If they are saying they have not awarded a contract, how come there was a report and also we saw the minister of health Kapembwa Simbao standing with one official from Philips? So it is not true. If it is an old contract, what were they trying to show in those meetings they came to Zambia to do?” Mpombo asked.

“These manoeuvres by government are not helping to melt the iceberg. Let them come out clean so that the nation is aware because there was a lot of fanfare last June when this contract was signed. It was shown on television to show that there is a new contract. Why are they trying to distance themselves now from what they had told the nation? If the contract was signed in 2002, why have a ceremony of signing done today?”

Mpombo said the government must improve on its accountability.

He said the issue must be handled well because the President had been known to be Philips’ representative in the country.

Mpombo said as long as the Philips issue was not well dealt with, people would continue to speculate that State House was a black hole for backroom deals.

“It’s like a den of deals. Like one place where you can organise deals and that kind of thing. So we need the President to disengage himself from these speculations. State House has become a black hole for backroom deals,” Mpombo said.

“I have a feeling that that’s why people are saying that ‘let’s do away with abuse of office’, because they have realised that these issues will resurface.”

Mpombo said State House should immediately issue a statement on the President’s links with Philips.

He said President Banda must declare interest by ensuring that the companies he has connections with are not treated as sacred cows when it comes to receiving contracts from the government.

“What the President should have done is to declare interest because suspicion is very difficult to go away,” said Mpombo.

Simbao on Sunday said there is no existing contract between the Zambian government and Philips for the upgrade and maintenance of hospital equipment in 71 districts across the country.

Speaking to journalists in Lusaka after receiving a K90 million donation from Zain Zambia for the measles campaign, Simbao said in 2002, the Ministry of Health had a 25 million Euro project called ORET where Philips was fully in charge and ended in 2007.

“In 2002 we had a project called the Oret project which Philips were fully in charge, this was to install our theatre equipment, X-ray machines and all such things in all our district hospitals, that project ended in 2007,” Simbao said.

But highly placed sources in the Ministry of Health last week said President Banda’s involvement in the 25 million euro Philips deal is not surprising because he has been known to represent that company before he became President.

The sources disclosed that Mpombo’s questioning of the government’s decision to award Philips a 25 million euro contract to cover the upgrade and maintenance of equipment in 71 government hospitals was justified.