Mulongoti is a twit – Mpombo
Written by George Chellah
Friday, July 24, 2009 3:10:38 PM
WORKS and supply minister Mike Mulongoti is a buffoon and a twit, former defence minister George Mpombo has charged.Reacting to Ministry of Works and Supply permanent secretary Lieutenant Colonel Bizwayo Nkunika's notice for him to vacate the government house and surrender his personal-to-holder vehicle, Mpombo said although he had always been ready to vacate the house, there was need for the government to handle matters with civility.
He urged the government to treat him with respect instead of resorting to political persecution. He said it was precisely two weeks since he resigned and yet he was being pursued like he had stayed in the house for months.
Mpombo said he was aware of government officials that had remained in government houses after resigning for a lengthy period of time without being victimised.
"This whole thing is being engineered by some small, little buffoon called Mulongoti. This twit is a living manifestation of evil and actually a personal envoy of the devil to Zambia," Mpombo said.
He wondered why Mulongoti hated him so much.
"This chap is so evil. Do you know that after the monkey business in Livingstone, when I met him at State House on 26 June, 2009 we were having lunch after the Cabinet meeting," Mpombo narrated. "Instead of sympathising with me or trying to find out what happened, he came to me and said, 'we missed an opportunity for a state funeral.' Meaning he was wishing me death. He is a very evil small guy."
Mpombo said officials from Mulongoti's ministry on Wednesday went to his house to intimidate his daughters.
"This morning (Wednesday morning) some officials from works and supply went to my house. They found my daughters and told them that we should have left the house by yesterday (Tuesday) and the vehicle should have been surrendered by yesterday (Tuesday). This is part of victimisation and persecution," Mpombo said. "For me, we should have moved out of the house by our own volition, except that my wife's auntie is admitted at St Johns Hospital and they are from the Copperbelt, so we can't leave them here. And immediately she is discharged tomorrow (yesterday), we leave."
Mpombo complained that he had served in the government as a senior minister and therefore he did not expect to be treated that way.
"It's this kind of hostile environment that forced me out of government. I am consulting my constituency this week to find a way forward. If the party doesn't need me, I have no problem with that. When President Banda accepted my resignation, I gave the vehicle to my security guys that take it because I am a very orderly person. When they drove to Lusaka, the permanent secretary and the Ministry of Defence phoned me and said, 'I have heard that the vehicle is being brought here. This is a personal to holder vehicle so it can't be parked at the ministry. You can have it and negotiate the buying process with works and supply,'" Mpombo said.
"I have used this vehicle for about two years nine months and I qualify according to the conditions of service to buy it. I know of people who bought government vehicles after serving for two years or less. When I resigned, I wrote a letter to the Secretary to the Cabinet Dr Joshua Kanganja. Even before he could get back to me, this is the kind of thing I get."
Mpombo said he would pursue the matter vigorously.
"It amounts to a moral equivalency of war because I do qualify. I will ask my lawyers to handle this matter, I have had enough," he said.
In a letter to Mpombo dated July 21, 2009, which was also copied to Mulongoti and Dr Kanganja, Lt. Col Nkunika advised Mpombo to vacate the VIP house number 5371 Robert Kennedy Close.
"I write to draw your attention to the fact that in accordance with your terms and conditions of service, you are required to vacate a government house within fifteen (15) days from the date of your termination of office as a Cabinet minister or upon your resignation," Lt. Col Nkunika stated.
"In view of the foregoing, you are requested to vacate the government house and surrender your personal to holder vehicle to the undersigned by 21st July 2009 to pave way for a new occupant and user. You are also requested to clear outstanding water and electricity bills if any, on vacating your former official residence house."
But early this year, Mulongoti authorised Dora Siliya's continued stay in a government house beyond the stipulated 15 days after one ceases to be minister. Nkunika confirmed that Siliya, who resigned from her ministerial position, was still occupying a government house beyond the stipulated period.
"Yes, I can confirm to you that she's still in a government house and has asked the Minister of Works and Supply [Mulongoti] to stay a little bit longer until she finds some other accommodation arrangements, and the minister has authorised," Lt Col Nkunika said.
"I don't think this a constitutional matter, it's a regulation. You may recall this happened to [Zambia's envoy to China] Ambassador Lupando Mwape. When he lost his job, he was allowed to stay in the house for three months."
Nkunika said ministers of works and supply could use their discretion to allow former leaders like Cabinet ministers to stay in a government house longer than the stipulated 15 days.
Asked on the timeframe within which former ministers were supposed to hand over their government vehicles upon leaving office, Nkunika said the ministers could still hold on to their GRZ numbers, until they had fully paid for the vehicles if the intention was to buy them.
Asked if Siliya was still driving a GRZ vehicle, Nkunika responded: "You can come and see me at the office. I am going into a meeting."
Labels: BIZWAYO NKUNIKA, GEORGE MPOMBO, MIKE MULONGOTI, MINISTRY OF WORKS AND SUPPLY
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Donors query RDA’s projects expedenditure
Written by Mwala Kalaluka
Monday, June 08, 2009 6:46:29 PM
DONORS have queried the Road Development Agency (RDA) to substantiate why it over-procured road projects by more than K1 trillion in the 2008 annual work plan.
And Ministry of Works and Supply permanent secretary Lieutenant Colonel Bizwayo Nkunika said the
over-procurement query is in a way a misunderstanding of the process of procurement.
Meanwhile, RDA acting chief executive officer Erasmus Chilundika said the above situation is not an over-procurement but an advanced procurement undertaken from 2008.
Well-placed sources told The Post that following the queried 2008 annual work plan over-procurement by the RDA, donors such as the World Bank have gone ahead to withhold funding on the Lusaka-Chirundu road rehabilitation undertaking.
“The NRFA have asked them to substantiate why they have over-procured,” the sources said. “The budget for 2008 was about K1.3 trillion but they have overshot by more than K1 trillion.”
The sources, who expressed concern at the current government’s muteness on the irregularity, said some donors in the road sector also asked the RDA to justify why it had overcommitted the government during the 2008 procurement process.
They said the query was raised during a meeting between donors and road sector stakeholders held at Lusaka’s Pamodzi Hotel sometime last month, where even some donors walked out.
“The World Bank has even withheld Lusaka-Chirundu until they [RDA] justify why they over-procured in 2008,” the sources said. “Right now, RDA is almost coming to a standstill because there is now almost no money now, because all the money is going to service the projects that were over-procured last year.”
The sources said RDA had over the last month been working around the issue of trying to justify the over-procurement.
And Lt Col Nkunika said an analysis of the over-procurement concern had been done and handed over to the donors to explain the over-procurement.
However, Lt Col Nkunika said the RDA should be commended for procuring works in advance.
“You recall that last year we were condemned that we had no capacity to procure and as a result K180 billion went back to the treasury, unused at the end of the year,” Lt. Col Nkunika said. “So we became proactive and procured works in advance.”
He explained that a project would in this case become active once a contract had been signed and that no money would be paid until after a contract had been signed.
“When you are procuring, say, Kasempa to Chavuma, you procure for the whole road and so the cost reflects the entire works of the road,” he said. “Work will only depend on the particular money released.”
Lt Col Nkunika said the roads that were procured were all in the annual work plan and that if there was any project that was done outside the work plan, then it was a must-do.
He gave an example of the Zimba-Livingstone road and some breakaways along the Great East Road, which he described as emergency works.
“The over-procurement was in a way, a misunderstanding of the procurement process,” Lt Col Nkunika said. “There are roads that came on board after the budgetary process.”
He said there were roads that were supposed to be constructed in the planned multi-facility economic zones, tourist areas like Kasaba Bay and in some farming blocks.
“If these roads are done, we will need an extra K170 billion, but if we are going to do the normal routine roads then we are within the budget by about K3 billion,” explained Lt Col Nkunika. “There is no over-procurement because the contracts have not been signed. It is just a question of understanding how projects work.” Meanwhile, Chilundika said the NRFA had not queried the RDA on the over-procurement issue.
“The donors believe that there was over-procurement of works that will be outside the budget by K1.5 trillion,” he said. “Works are undertaken according to the cash flow.”
Chilundika said the projects perceived to have been over-procured were actually budgeted for in 2008 and would be commissioned this year, up to 2010 some cases.
Labels: BIZWAYO NKUNIKA, DONORS, ERASMUS CHILUNDIKA, RDA
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Works PS denies keeping money raised from sale of seized property
By Noel Sichalwe
Sunday August 10, 2008 [04:01]
WORKS and supply permanent secretary Colonel Bizwayo Nkunika has denied that his ministry is keeping some money that was raised from the auction sale of some property recovered by the Task Force from suspected plunderers. Col Nkunika was reacting to Task Force chairman Max Nkole who on Thursday last week said the Ministry of Works and Supplying has not yet transferred the money realized from the sale of plundered goods to the Recovery Account at Bank of Zambia (BoZ).
Col Nkunika said the Ministry of Works and Supply merely provided shelter for the vehicles and motorized boats that were auctioned after being recovered by the Task Force.
"I am a custodian of some mobile properties which were seized by the Task Force," he said. "The Ministry of Finance are the ones who appoint a board to sell or dispose of properties. The first sale was an auction sale conducted by the Ministry of Finance. The second sale was an internal sale within government to finish off those that remained. That too was conducted by Ministry of Finance. My ministry doesn't handle any Task Force money."
Col Nkunika also said Nkole has not written to him requesting the transfer of funds from his Ministry to the Recovery Account at BoZ.
"I have not yet received a letter from Mr Nkole claiming the money that was raised from the sale of the vehicles and boats," he said.
On Thursday last week, Nkole said the Task Force currently had about K14 billion in the Recovery Account at Bank of Zambia (BoZ) but that some of the monies were held by Ministry of Works and Supply after auctioning some properties.
Nkole said the Task Force on Corruption has since written to the Ministry of Works and Supply to transfer the money to the Recovery Account.
Nkole said following Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Katanga Province governor Moses Katumbi's forfeiture of assets worth about K5 billion and the US $4.4 million from former Zambia's ambassador to the US Attan Shansonga, the recovery process would continue to grow.
Labels: BIZWAYO NKUNIKA, PERMANENT SECRETARIES, TASK FORCE
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