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Hon. Anthony Mumba, Kankoyo MP writes…
THE GOVERNMENT OF ZAMBIA HAS TERMINATED THE CONTRACT ON THE NDOLA MUFULIRA ROAD AND MUFULIRA MUKAMBO ROAD AND A JOINT TEAM OF INVESTIGATION IS INVESTIGATION THE 267 MILLION KWACHA PAID TO THE CONTRACTOR WHO NEVER DID ANYTHING ON THE ROAD.
The government of Zambia through his excellence President Hakainde Hichilema has come to the rescue of the people of mufulira who have been subjected to day light robbery by scavengers in Public offices who awarded themselves a 701,784,400.59 over priced road contract without following the tendering procedure on 25th July 2016 . The project was expected to be completed on 29th June 2019.
The fraudulent contract was awarded to Inyatsi Roads Zambia limited in joint venture with marks industries limited. The two companies had no machinery, expertise and experience to execute the works hence subcontracted swift cargo to do the job.
Swift cargo moblised a water bowser, Grader, loader and two tippers on 30th June 2017 . Just after grading some deviation on the main road, NRF was instructed to pay the contractor without any certificate of works done .
Despite the contractor having failed to complete the works as per contract terms, the contract was extended three times with the revised completion date of 28th September 2021 .
The amount of the contract was also revised upwards to 745,358,425.21 kwacha on which RDA was instructed to continue paying the contractor without measuring works done.
Before the 2021 election, the contractor had been paid a total of 238 million . Despite the change of government on 12th August due to the rampant corruption in the PF government ,RDA authorized another payment of 29.7 million kwacha on 12th September 2021 to the contractor.
The member of parliament for kantashi Hon Anthony Mumba questioned the government why they had paid 30 million to a contractor who had done nothing on the road and asked the government to terminate the contract, the contractor went on radio to denounce the member of parliament for misleading the public and sued the Mp for kantashi for deformation claiming 1 million kwacha damages.
Despite the member of parliament for Mufulira central Hon Golden Mwila, member of parliament for Chifubu Hon Loyd Lubosha and Myself having visited RDA to get the right information on the money paid to the contractor and value of works done on the road on 1st October 2021, RDA couldn’t give us the information.
On behalf of the people of kankoyo ,I was asked to write a letter to request for the information, having in mind that the contractor on this road was swiftcargo, after 60 days of following the issue, RDA responded saying that the contract was awarded to Inyatsi Roads Zambia and not swift cargo hence our question to know the value of works done and amount paid was not responded to.
On 2nd November 2021,we wrote another letter quoting the correct contractor but RDA couldn’t respond to our letter.
The member of parliament for Mufulira decided to officially write to the speaker of the national assembly, hence the minister responded to the question yesterday on 25th February 2022 .
During the parliament session it was shocking to learn that the total money paid to the contractor was in fact 267 million kwacha and not the 30 million Hon Anthony Mumba knew hence I asked the minister to tell the people of mufulira if the works done was equivalent to the money paid.The response from the minister was not very satisfactory hence we looked forward to RDA to give us a more detailed report.
After parliament, RDA called me to pick up the response to the letter we wrote on 2nd November 2021.
In the response RDA has advised that the contract was terminated on 28th September 2021, the agency is in the process of procuring another contractor to complete the remaining works the project, the contract is under investigation by various security wigs as such, they shall advise at an appropriate time on the various requested details when the sharing of such information can longer jeopardize the on-going inquiries.
It’s our prayer that the investigation will be concluded soon, the 267 million robbed from the people of mufulira will be recovered and anyone found wanting will be punished heavily for betraying the people of mufulira.
What unites us is morethan what can ever divide us as we are always and ever stronger together.
