Get to the bottom of all financial irregularities under MMD - Mususu

Get to the bottom of all financial irregularities under MMD - Mususu
By Kabanda Chulu
Sun 30 Oct. 2011, 12:30 CAT

THE PF government should get to the bottom of all financial irregularities that happened during the MMD administration and inform Zambians who want tangible results in the fight against corruption, says Bishop Paul Mususu.

And National Movement for Progress president Ng'andu Magande has said the government should not waste time because people involved in the irregularities surrounding the procurement and signing of the operational contract for the border scanners are known and are walking the streets freely.

Commenting on revelations that the MMD government developed a scheme to continue stealing public funds by wrongly engaging Bradwell International of UK to operate border x-ray cargo scanners for 10 years despite having some ZRA staff undergoing specialized training to handle such kind of operations, Bishop Mususu said correct procedures should be followed when handling national affairs.

"If they are Zambians who are qualified to operate the scanners, it is not correct for anyone to bring people outside ZRA so that contract to operate border scanners has created a lot of suspicions since our institution has capacity. And we are told the same contract was single-sourced but this procedure is not the best mode of tender procedure because tenders should be open so that we have chance to scrutinize all bids and settle for the lowest bidder," said Bishop Mususu.

"All these are anomalies that must be addressed, but my general observation is that these and many other irregularities should be one of the things the commissions of inquiry especially the one looking at ZRA should address and get to the bottom of these issues and give Zambians proper information because people want tangible results of what was happening otherwise some people will be saying the PF government is witch hunting. So we want substantial results in this fight and corruption must be fought at all levels regardless of who is involved in perpetuating this vice."

And Magande said the financial irregularities surrounding the purchase and signing of a contract to operate the border scanners was a clear case of mismanagement.

"Government should not waste time because everything is clear and people involved are known and they are freely walking down the streets and we can't have such a situation," said Magande.

The MMD government engaged Bradwell International of UK through its local subsidiary, Border Protection Company Zambia Limited (BPCZ) through direct bidding (formerly single sourcing) for a 10 year contract to operate border scanners despite ZRA having the capacity.

To finance the contract whose ratio was 85 per cent to Bradwell International and the remaining 15 per cent for government, then vice-president George Kunda hastily signed Statutory Instrument number 101 of 2011 on August 28 2011, as an amendment to the customs and excise Act to pave way for the introduction of examination fees, which is not a tax but a charge towards the managing of scanners.

However, President Sata has since terminated the contract and it is now a subject for security investigation.