Sikaneta bemoans rising number of OVCs
Written by Mwila Chansa in Kitwe
Friday, August 07, 2009 2:50:34 PM
SPORT, youth and child development permanent secretary Susan Sikaneta has observed that unfavourable social conditions, coupled with HIV and AIDS and high poverty levels, have continued to negatively impact on the well-being of children and youths.
And Zambia National Service (ZNS) skills training commanding officer Major Innocent Chileshe said the camp was facing challenges in terms of providing certain infrastructure needed in the training of youths.
Launching the third intake of the 2009 ZNS youth skills training programme in Kitwe yesterday, Ambassador Sikaneta noted that it was saddening that the number of orphans and vulnerable children had kept rising.
“Unfortunately, this is the category of children with little or no access to basic necessities such as food, clothing, shelter, medical care and affection. They are also more likely to be sidelined, exploited and abused,” Ambassador Sikaneta said.
She said there was therefore need for society to ensure that it invested in education, health, and food and nutrition for children and youths for their survival and development because theirs was a segment of the population that would shoulder the countryís responsibility for years to come.
And Ambassador Sikaneta urged the new trainees to ensure that they focused on their empowerment for self sustainability.
“You should consider yourselves lucky that you were picked for this programme because there are so many vulnerable youths out there who would have loved to be here today. We had more than one million people who wanted to be considered but we only took 150 here and 315 at Chiwoko,” said Ambassador Sikaneta.
And Major Chileshe said the training camp needed facilities such as a library, computer laboratory, resource centre as well as sports and recreation facilities.
He said the camp was also facing a challenge in accommodating instructors and officers.
Major Chileshe called for the absorption of graduates from ZNS skills camps into proper programmes to avert the possibility of them falling back into their previous lifestyles.
Labels: INNOCENT CHILESHE, SUSAN SIKANETA, ZNS
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Kaande committed a prosecutable offence – Chongwe
Written by Chibaula Silwamba in Mtenguleni, Chipata
LUSAKA lawyer Dr Rodger Chongwe has charged that MMD deputy national secretary Jeff Kaande committed a prosecutable offence and any Zambian can take legal action against him.
Commenting on Kaande's decision in November last year to write to then home affairs permanent secretary Susan Sikaneta to quickly process payments for food suppliers whom the government owed some money because they were pledging to financially support the ruling MMD, Dr Chongwe said Kaande had contravened the Zambian constitution and could be prosecuted over that offence.
"Any interested Zambian, who wishes to, can take legal action against Mr Kaande," said Dr Chongwe in an interview on Friday. "This is against Article One of our Constitution which states that Zambia shall be a unilateral state and multiparty. Now once you begin writing to government and that government is the government of your own political party and you say, 'consider these people as our party people,' you are actually killing the spirit of the Constitution."
He said Kaande's behaviour brings about partisanship in the civil service whereby the civil service would only be giving tenders to ruling party members hence disadvantaging other people who did not belong to the ruling party or those who were non-partisan.
"That is an offence because it is inconsistent with our supreme law, the Constitution of Zambia. What I should say is that Mr Kaande, if that is what he did and he has admitted...that is wrong. He has admitted, but he has to go further and apologise to the people of Zambia," Dr Chongwe said. "This is not a one-party state. We ceased to be a one-party state on 30th September in 1990 and through legislation on 4th December 1990; we are a multi party state. We founded the MMD as a movement to introduce multiparty democracy."
He said it was unfortunate that senior MMD officials were bringing back the spirit of the one-party state.
"The behaviour of Mr Kaande is contrary to the spirit of us, who started the party, which is the Movement for Multiparty Democracy and not the movement for going back to the one party. That is an offence against our Constitution," said Dr Chongwe.
According to correspondence obtained by The Post, Kaande in November last year requested Sikaneta to pay over K1 billion to seven food suppliers that pledged financial support to the ruling party.
The documents revealed that the figures for Liki Enterprise on Kaande's list was inflated by over K380 million while two other suppliers were not owed anything by the Ministry of Home Affairs although Kaande stated that they were owed K50 million each.
In his letter dated 11th November 2008 to Sikaneta on the MMD letterhead, Kaande requested her to facilitate the payments according to what they had discussed earlier.
"List of companies pledging to support the party," read Kaande's letter in part. "Please consider assisting the companies below as discussed: - (1) Sunlight Estates - 300,000,000 (2) Dakwa General Dealers- 291,000,000 (3) Mavin Marketing - 130,000,000 (4) Miyele Enterprise - 95,000,000 (5) Liki Enterprise-400,000,000 (6) Bangosho Enterprise-50,000,000 (7) Mark Marketing-50,000,000. Total 1,025,000,000."
When contacted for comment on Monday, Sikaneta confirmed having received Kaande's letter but referred all queries to the current permanent secretary because she was no longer in charge at Ministry of Home Affairs.
Kaande later, in response to people that were condemning him for his action, warned that he would reprimand the seven suppliers for inflating amounts of money owed to them by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Kaande said he and the MMD had learnt a lesson not to believe cadres on face value.
Kaande said he did not inflate the figures but that MMD cadres themselves had given him figures that were higher than what was in the records at the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Labels: CORRUPTION, FOOD, JEFF KANDE, MMD, ROGER CHONGWE, SUSAN SIKANETA
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Sikaneta expresses concern over police's abuse of public funds
By Mwala Kalaluka
Friday March 14, 2008 [03:00]
MINISTRY of Home Affairs Permanent Secretary Susan Sikatena yesterday said management of public funds in the Zambia Police Service leaves much to be desired. Appearing before PAC to explain unconstitutional expenditure cited in the report of the Auditor General for the 2006 financial year, Sikaneta said measures were being put in place to reverse the weak financial management systems in the police.
“One thing that I would like to mention is that the system at Zambia Police, the way it has been functioning, leaves much to be desired. I have taken this to the attention of the Secretary to the Treasury,” she said.
Sikaneta said when it comes to management of public funds within the Police Service, she was just a controlling officer by name and on paper. “That is why there have been so many problems in the police,” Sikaneta complained.
“All the monies that are sent to the police do not go through the controlling officer, they go straight to the police.”She asked PAC to help her ensure that she was given a strong mandate to oversee matters of financial management within the Zambia Police.
Sikaneta said the K2.9 billion unconstitutional expenditure that was accrued in 2006 was as a consequence of the urgent need to buy vehicles for the police during the 2006 general elections.
“We have taken note of the observation of the Auditor General and we will be able to apply to the Ministry of Finance to allow this amount as excess expenditure so that it can come in the appropriation bill for 2006,” she said.
Sikaneta said they would ensure that the police and any other departments within the Ministry of Home Affairs spent within the budget.
Milupi asked Sikaneta to explain why the money supposedly for procuring the motor vehicles for the 2006 general election in the Police Service were not budgeted for.
“Our worry as a committee is that when the executive knows certain events that are going to happen and does not follow the constitution, it is as if they want to circumvent our constitutional provision,” Milupi said.
However, the Ministry of Home Affairs’ chief accountant Jessy Nkhoma, said a supplementary provision raised in view of the unconstitutional expenditure was submitted late and was therefore not captured.
Milupi also said the committee was worried that similar issues might surface in the 2007 financial reports and in subsequent years if they were not brought to an end.
Responding to the concerns, Sikaneta said she was doing everything possible to address the problems.
She said it was also regrettable that the traffic section at Livingstone Central Police decided to divert revenue amounting to about K37 million without treasury authority.
“We are monitoring very carefully and seriously and anybody found wanting will be brought to book,” she said.
And Milupi said he was concerned with the state of affairs at Interpol Headquarters, where K230 million was stolen by an officer by the name of Agrippa Zulu, who also misappropriated K167 million the following year.
He said it was frightening that senior officers were helping themselves to public funds.
But Sikaneta said everything was being done to recover the misappropriated funds because simply reverting the erring officers to other duties and deducting from their salaries would amount to converting the stolen money into a loan.
“What we are doing is to go for prosecution,” she said. “Agrippa Zulu has been arrested, prosecuted and is in court and we believe the evidence against him is so overwhelming and chances are that he is going to be convicted.”
Labels: CHARLES MILUPI, CORRUPTION, PAC, POLICE, SUSAN SIKANETA
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