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RDA, ZPPA need cleansing - Scott

RDA, ZPPA need cleansing - Scott
By Moses Kuwema in Isoka
Fri 15 June 2012, 13:25 CAT

VICE-President Dr Guy Scott says the Road Development Agency (RDA) and the Zambia Public Procurement Authority (ZPPA) need cleansing and panel beating.

Vice-President Scott's comments come in the wake of revelations by the provincial administration in Muchinga Province that funds for various works for the province were readily available but that the bureaucracy surrounding the procurement process was hampering implementation.

Vice-President Scott observed that there was a lot of foot dragging which was going on in the two institutions.

"The institutions like Road Development Agency, like Zambia Public Procurement Authority and so forth, don't seem to be up and carrying on working. There seems to be a lot of foot dragging going on inside these institutions and I think they need cleansing. They need panel beating because the money is there. Muchinga Province has not been deprived of money, what it has been deprived of is the administrative get up and go. We don't want to open the door to corruption…to single sourcing but at the same time we want to make the system work, that's the challenge that we have," Vice-President Scott said when he featured on a special programme on Iso FM yesterday.

And Vice-President Scott said the Farmer Input Support Programme and the maize buying programme of the Food Reserve Agency were extremely corrupted.

Vice-President Scott cited an example of Chama where three quarters of the maize that was bought and sold in the district came from neighbouring countries such as Malawi and Tanzania.

"…200, 000 tonnes of fertiliser went into the rural areas and where is it? It's all been rounded up by the smugglers and the traders and commercial farmers. Likewise for maize, the reason it is paid for late is that the money is being taken by the big people," he said.

He said there was need to clean up the system so that it could serve the small farmers.

"Zambia is a very corrupt place but the maize and fertiliser system is so corrupt. Once we have got the system under control, that's when we can fulfill our campaign promises of 10 bags of fertiliser. This system if it is not clean then we will break down," Vice-President Scott said.

And Vice-President Scott said the maize-buying exercise would commence in the next two weeks.

And featuring on the same programme, Muchinga Province minister Malozo Sichone said the Chinese contractor who built the Tazara railway was the same one who would be working on the Chama-Matumbo road and estimated the contract sum at K400 billion.

Labels: GUY SCOTT, RDA, ZPPA

posted by MrK @ 3:57 PM