Government ministries are losing millions of kwacha to contractors who collect advance payments, abandon public projects and resurface elsewhere for new contracts, with a company linked to a serving member of Parliament among firms cited for receiving public funds without delivering work, Binwell Mpundu told the National Assembly on Wednesday.
Debating the Auditor General’s 2024–2025 report, Mpundu said the findings pointed to a recurring procurement scheme operating across multiple ministries. Contractors, he said, secure public contracts, collect advance payments of up to 25 percent, briefly appear on project sites and later abandon the works without completing them. He told Parliament that K12 million paid to contractors whose agreements were later terminated remains unrecovered across several projects.
“What has been noted throughout this report is a systematic practice. More of a syndicate, Madam Speaker, of contractors being given contracts, being given advance payments of 25 percent, they go on-site, abandon the projects, and nothing is done,” Mpundu said.
He cited GNM Projects Limited as one example contained in the Auditor General’s report. The company received K3.3 million in advance payments to construct the Mbaswa Dam but failed to complete the project, with the funds remaining unrecovered. Mpundu said the same company later secured another contract worth K3.3 million to construct a palace in Chief Mwamba’s area, received an additional K1.48 million advance payment and again abandoned the works.
Both transactions appear in the Auditor General’s report on page 201, Mpundu told lawmakers, arguing that the repeated awarding of contracts to defaulting firms showed a deeper failure in public procurement oversight.
He said law enforcement agencies should not wait for formal referrals before investigating companies named in the audit report.
“The information is there. Action must be taken,” Mpundu told Parliament.
The most politically sensitive issue raised in his contribution involved the Ministry of Community Development’s Food Security Pack programme.
Mpundu said 34 suppliers were awarded contracts worth K1.469 billion to supply fertiliser, seeds and other agricultural inputs under the programme. Of that amount, K923 million had already been paid out as advance payments.
He told Parliament that Transseed Zambia Limited received a contract worth K31 million and was paid K9.7 million in advance payments but had not delivered anything by the close of 2025.
Mpundu said the company is owned by a sitting member of Parliament but declined to name the lawmaker, citing parliamentary rules that restrict discussion of absent members.
“I’ll leave those details, but belongs to a member of this other House,” he said.
The disclosure placed fresh scrutiny on the Food Security Pack programme, which is meant to support vulnerable households with farming inputs but is now facing questions over contract enforcement and oversight.
Mpundu said repeated failures to blacklist contractors who abandon projects have allowed the same firms to continue accessing public contracts despite defaulting on previous agreements.
He urged Parliament to ensure findings from the Auditor General’s report are referred to law enforcement agencies for immediate investigation and prosecution.
The Auditor General’s report covers the financial period between January and December 2024 and has been submitted to Parliament for further scrutiny.
Mpundu’s remarks brought specific contract figures, named companies and unresolved payments into open parliamentary debate, intensifying pressure on government institutions responsible for procurement oversight and recovery of public funds.
There are three things here; 1. If you have enough evidence on what you are saying, go and report the case to DEC, ACC and the Police. 2. The President told everyone of his appointees that whoever is doing such things is on his own. 3. The Parliament will be dissolved in few days time, the records are there to carry out all the necessary investigations and eventually the law will catch up with him. So just hold your piece, very soon the long arm of the law will visit him, UPND does not condone and protect corrupt people.