North anti-graft team summons Simfukwe
THE Northern Province taskforce on corruption has summoned former provincial permanent secretary Mwalimu Simfukwe and his former procurement officials for questioning.
The task force is probing the alleged awarding of a tender worth K1.8billion to Pamoja Contractors and General Suppliers for the construction of culverts in Isoka, Chinsali, Mpulungu and Kaputa.
The contract exceeded the K500 million threshold, which was beyond what the permanent secretary and his provincial tender committee could approve.
This should have been referred to the Zambia Public Procurement Authority (ZPPA) for consent or objection.
Also being probed is the alleged awarding of a contract to Pachi Business Solutions worth K700 million for the supply of building materials for various projects in the province.
This contract was awarded in circumstances that allegedly flouted tender procedures.
Taskforce chairperson, who is Northern Province police commissioner, Mary Chikwanda, said she was concerned that Mr Simfukwe appeared to be evading investigators by giving excuses.
But Mr Simfukwe said in an interview yesterday that he would make himself available on Monday next week in the company of his lawyers.
Mrs Chikwanda said the former permanent secretary was earlier expected to appear before the taskforce in Kasama last week but had not done so.
She said Mr Simfukwe demanded a formal call-out to be faxed to him and promised to give his number as he was in Mbala, but allegedly failed to do so.
The taskforce is also investigating the awarding of contract to Jubeto Construction worth K941 million and Kahema Contractors that was given a tender worth K755, 780,000.00.
The contracts were for the supply of building materials for the construction of Mwenewisi Bridge in Mafinga District under the Road Development Agency (RDA).
The other tender under probe was awarded to Cornerstone Heritage worth K850 million for the supply and installation of traffic lights in Kasama.
Mrs Chikwanda said the taskforce is also investigating allegations that, while Mr Simfukwe was in office, he ran a cattle restocking exercise for Mbesuma Ranch and allegedly diverted cattle meant for the ranch in Chinsali to his farm in Mbala.
By Times Reporter
Labels: CONTRACTORS, CORRUPTION, MWALIMU SIMFUKWE, ROADS
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PF cadres force N/Province PS to park govt vehicle
By Ernest Chanda
Wed 27 July 2011, 13:59 CAT
KASAMA Patriotic Front cadres on Wednesday last week forced Northern Province permanent secretary Mwalimu Simfukwe to park his official government vehicle. According to sources in the Kasama MMD leadership, Simfukwe who was last week picked to stand as the party’s parliamentary candidate in Mbala, wanted to use the government vehicle for campaigns in the constituency.
“In the morning on Wednesday, word went round that Mr Simfukwe was going to Mbala for campaigns. And since everyone has been seeing him with a government vehicle even after he was announced as the MMD parliamentary candidate, the PF cadres decided to wait for him,” the sources said.
“So these cadres mounted a roadblock on the Kasama-Mbala road. And when they saw Mr Simfukwe coming, they stopped him and asked him why he was moving with a government vehicle since he was no longer a civil servant. They told him that since he was no longer interested in the civil service job they were ready to meet him on the political platform,” the source said. “And so they ordered him to take back the vehicle, and they followed him all the way to his office where he finally parked the vehicle. And when other government officers heard what had happened, they all drew curtains on their office windows, they locked the offices to avoid being drawn into the situation.”
Efforts to get a comment from Simfukwe’s proved futile as his mobile phone went unanswered.
Labels: CADRES, MWALIMU SIMFUKWE, PF
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Simfukwe counsels youths
By Kombe Chimpinde
Mon 21 Feb. 2011, 04:00 CAT
YOUTHS will continue crying foul unless political parties find a best formula for adoption to allow them equal participation in elections, says Mwalimu Simfukwe.
Addressing youths from various parties at a workshop organized by Anti-voter Apathy (AVAP) and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) in Kasama, Simfukwe who is Northern Province Permanent Secretary said this year’s elections were going to provide both an opportunity and challenge in that adopting candidates for elections in parties had become problematic for them because of many controversies.
Simfukwe said there was a growing trend for parties to incline to candidates who were financially able as opposed to their leadership qualities.
“Going by this theme, we must remind ourselves that the 2011 elections can pose both a challenge and opportunity to aspiring youth candidates and voters,” Simfunkwe said.
He however said the youths should exhibit leadership qualities and courage to contest elections on suitable positions.
“The future of political parties lies in the youth leadership. Indeed, you are the solid foundation of your respective political parties and you should remain focused and committed,” Simfukwe said.
And Simfunkwe told the youths that were gathered that political violence was not part of democracy which Zambia embraced.
“We must reach a level of political maturity and counsel ourselves that elections should not make us enemies. Whether it is physical or verbal violence, we should learn to resist so as to promote peace. I wish to call upon the youths not to be used as instruments for violence during election campaigns. You should resist temptation and ask your senior party leaders to use you as ambassadors of clean and issue based campaigns,” Simfukwe said.
AVAP executive director Bonnie Tembo expressed gratitude at the support it had received from FES to build capacity among the youth.
“I want to acknowledge the support AVAP receives from the FES since 2001 from 2001. With this support, AVAP has trained a lot of youth drawn from both the ruling and opposition political parties. We have a proud and talking record for our success story,” Tembo said.
Labels: MWALIMU SIMFUKWE, YOUTHS
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PS urges civil servants to help explain govt’s successes
By Ackson Phiri in Kasama
Thu 24 June 2010, 04:00 CAT
NORTHERN Province permanent secretary Mwalimu Simfukwe has urged government departments to unite and explain to members of the public the successes they have scored.
During government departments display inspection at Kasama Shoprite car park yesterday, Simfukwe asked the government departments to remain united and committed in discharging their duties.
He commended the departments for turning up in numbers to exhibit to the public their day-to-day duties.
He expressed happiness over the service delivery the departments portrayed which indicated that the government had improved in service delivery to the people in the province.
Simfukwe challenged the department of lands to encourage people who had been allocated large tracts of land to utilise it.
He observed that failure to utilise large tracts of land was retrogressive.
Simfukwe also encouraged departments to provide accurate and correct data to his office for use to the nation in graph and chart form, which was easy to interpret.
Over 23 departments attended the exhibition.
Labels: CIVIL SERVANTS, MWALIMU SIMFUKWE
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PAC summons Secretary to the Cabinet over shortage of manpower in govt
By Florence Bupe
Tue 13 Apr. 2010, 03:50 CAT
THE parliamentary public accounts committee (PAC) has requested the Secretary to the Cabinet to appear before it to account for the shortage of manpower in the civil service.
Responding to concerns raised by Northern Province permanent secretary Mwalimu Simfukwe on the inadequate staffing levels in the provincial office, PAC acting chairperson Highvie Hamududu said the Secretary to the Cabinet had been asked to appear before the committee to address concerns relating to understaffing in the civil service.
“We have noted that almost every government institution that appears before this committee has challenges with staffing levels. In order to try and find a solution to this problem which is clearly affecting operations of these institutions, we have summoned the Secretary to the Cabinet to come and explain to us what the problem is so that we can find solutions,” he said.
Hamududu said adequate staffing levels, combined with qualified manpower, were critical in the effective performance of the civil service.
He observed that understaffing in the civil service had resulted in negative spiral effects such as poor accountability and low performance in most institutions.
Earlier, Simfukwe complained that the provincial office was understaffed, especially in the accounts and procurement departments.
Simfukwe called on the government to address the staffing challenges to ensure improved operations.
Labels: HIGHVIE HAMUDUDU, MWALIMU SIMFUKWE, PAC
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