PARLEY SELECT COMMITTEE REPORT SHOWS DEBT ACQUIRED UNDER PF WAS WELL UTILISED- HON MWILA

UPND PROPAGANDA DISCARDED, PARLEY SELECT COMMITTEE REPORT SHOWS DEBT ACQUIRED UNDER PF WAS WELL UTILISED- HON MWILA.

……….says no funds were misapplied from the Eurobonds, FTJ University payments among others.

Lusaka – Wednesday, 31st July 2024 (SmartEagles).

Mufulira Central Member of Parliament Golden Mwila says the report of the select Committee has put to rest the malicious rumors and propaganda surrounding the PF government’s handling of funds.

The report  stems from a select committee appointed by the Speaker to look at the Auditor General’s special report on the external debt of the Republic of Zambia covering the period from 1st January 2006 to 31st December 2022.

Among the key items highlighted include the Eurobonds, and clarity on FTJ University.

And Hon Mwila said the report has clearly  indicated that no funds were misapplied on the debt contracted by the previous government and that the money had been utilized for its intended purposes such as infrastructure development.

He said it is worth noting that this special audit was instituted with the hope of implicating people of having squandered the debt that the PF acquired.

He has however paid tribute to the select committee for doing an excellent job, interacting with controlling officers from various institutions and parastatals affected by the report.

Hon Mwila is hopeful that the UPND Propaganda will be put to an end as they expected that the report would expose the perceived wrongdoing.

“We hope that this report now settles and it should put to an end the propaganda of the UPND, yes this special audit was instituted with the hope of implicating people of having squandered the debt that the PF acquired. The officers had appeared before the committee, setting the record straight and dispelling the many falsehoods that had been spread,” he said.

Hon Mwila said the report has exonerated the Performance of the PF Government as far as debt contraction and utilisation is concerned because in that report, no names have been mentioned to be found capable of mishandling or misusing the debt that was contracted.

He also said that the Eurobonds had been contracted at three different points, with clear documentation of how the funds had been applied.

“To their disappointment, the report was clear that the debt that PF contracted, even when you seeing that the report covers the period from 2006 almost 100% covers when the PF was in power.  It has talked about the three Euro Bonds, the debt that parastals contracted, ZESCO Bank of Zambia, water utility companies. Etc.  The Euro Bonds were contracted at three different points, the first one was 750 million dollars, second one was 1 billion dollars and the third one was 1.25 billion dollars.

The report has put it very clear where these Eurobonds were applied.  The first Euro bond, the institutions that benefited from that, the second Eurobond the institution that benefited. Same as the Third Euro bond. And in all these, backed by the Auditor General’s report and the select Committee, it is very clear that those funds were applied for the intended purpose. Ofcourse, there were some institutions which received part of these Eurobonds who have been highlighted in the report like Zambia railways, it was not out of misapplication, it was administrative issues……..DBZ also benefited from the first Eurobond of course they had operational issues which they had been struggling with before the coming of the Euro bonds,” he said.

With regards the FTJ University issue which was blown out of proportion,  Hon Mwila said the report is also clear that there was no irregularity in government making an advancement payment of over 33 million dollars to the contractor.

He said this is because the amount was counterpart funding that the Government was obliged to pay first before the financing could begin to flow.

“It was a normal contracting procedure to do that.  They finished this Item with half baked information. When you read the AG report about the $33 million paid to the contractor because the contract was terminated by December 2022 that funds had not recovered. But the controlling officer appeared in the select Committee and said there was no irregularity,” he said.

#SmartEagles2024.