By Staff Reporter

Bayport Financial Services has introduced the DDACC system to recover money owed to the institution by civil servants, in view of government’s failure to remit workers deduction since mid-2019.

And Bayport is closing several branches across the country, including the Kariba Branch along Cha Cha Cha road, whose last operating day is tomorrow, in an effort to make their operations lean and centralised in light of the harsh economic climate.

Well placed sources in the institutions told Daily Revelation that the company decided to introduce the Direct Debit and Credit Clearing (DDACC) system, where money meant for the financial institution is deducted directly by banks from the civil servants bank account where they receive their pay.

The sources said the financial institution had over 100,000 customers working for the government, and was owed close to K400 million at the last time of checking, saying the lack of government remittances has had a negative impact on its operations.

The sources said as part of an effort to make the institution’s operations lean and centralised, 69 workers had recently gone on voluntary separation, while some branches will be closed, including the one on Cha Cha Cha road.

“Mainly it’s the workers who have served for a long time that have gone on voluntary separation, because even if they had not opted for voluntary separation, management would have come up with compulsory separation, because they really want to make the operations lean,” the sources said.

Government owes Bayport and other financial institutions millions of Kwachas for failing to remit monies it has been deducting from civil servants that got loan facilities from financial institutions.

The Civil Servants and Allied Workers of Union of Zambia (CSAWUZ) has pleaded with the government to release monies deducted from its members and remit it to banks and financial institutions among them, Bayport Financial Services where they acquired loans.
Speaking with Daily Revelation recently, union president Davy Chiyobe disclosed that because of the government’s failure to remit money deducted from its members, some of them had been referred to the Credit Bureau and blacklisted.

He said when the union learnt of government’s failure to remit loan deductions for its members to banks and financial institutions last year, they wrote to then Finance Minister Margaret Mwanakatwe but she failed to address the matter.

“We wanted the minister to show direction but she lamentably failed. She never responded. We tried calling her nothing. No appointment. She lamentably failed,” he complained.
The union urged the government to start remitting the money as this would enable them to access loans which they could not do without.-Daily Revelations

By Patson Chilemba

The fact that ruling PF officials are admitting that party members use the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to settle political scores shows how rotten PF has become, says party member Colonel Panji Kaunda.

Speaking with Daily Revelation on the attacks on the ACC by PF Lusaka Province secretary Kennedy Kamba that the commission must be disbanded for being used by party members to settle political scores against each other, and by the opposition to settle scores against ruling party members, Col Panji said if the commission had a problem, then it was emanating from the PF as a party, who had not given it the autonomy to operate independently.

He said the ACC had the right to investigate cases that were brought before them, be it from the ruling or opposition members as long as there were elements worth investigating in the matters brought before them. Col Panji said in the UNIP days there used to be what was called as the leadership code to put a curb on public officials so that they refrained from stealing while in public office.

“It shows how rotten we have become as a party that we are using the ACC to settle scores. It seems that if we agree with what Kamba is saying, we will be doing exactly what MMD did when they destroyed the apparatus such as leadership code and CITAD,” Col Panji said. “It doesn’t mean that every case taken to ACC must end up in conviction. The ACC is mandated to investigate corruption.”

Col Panji said PF leaders must not fear being investigated by ACC and other investigate wings, saying they were actually going against their own manifesto with their attacks, as they were supposed to be in the forefront strengthening and encouraging investigate wings.

“We as a party should give backing to the ACC. We must encourage them if necessary to even investigate the President. As far as I am concerned ACC should investigate as long as citizens take cases to them. If we are fighting for positions in the party and taking matters to ACC, it is us to stop that and not the ACC,” he said.

Speaking with Daily Revelation, ruling PF Lusaka provincial secretary Kennedy Kamba said the ACC must be disbanded because it has failed to serve the wider interests of the Zambian people, as it has allowed itself to be used by politicians to fight their political battles. He said politicians in the ruling party were using the ACC to fight their own enemies, while those in the opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) were also using the Commission to fight members of the ruling party.
“I don’t want to mince my words, they should be disbanded because it (ACC) has been turned like a tool which is being used by politicians to fight political opponents. It is happening in the opposition and it is happening in the ruling party,” Kamba said “This is why I believe and I will continue saying that this ACC must be disbanded because it is not acting on its own, it’s being used as a tool to fight or to bring down other political enemies against each other, be it opposition or the ruling party.”

And Col Panji said information minister Dora Siliya should stop encouraging murder for saying that police should shoot to kill, saying there was nothing in the police training manual that said they must shoot to kill people. He said the only time a police officer could use a firearm was when their life was in danger, and that even then they should only shoot to maim and not to kill.

“Dora Siliya is advocating for murder. You can’t kill someone. It is definitely wring. In most countries police officers don’t even have guns,” said Col Panji. -Daily Revelations