Public tenders and ruling parties

By Daily Revelation Editor

The government says there is nothing wrong with awarding a tender for the supply of 100,000 phones worth K31 million to a company linked to UPND officials if they have met the requirements.

Last week, Daily Revelation published a story where the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services awarded a tender for the supply and delivery of 100,000 phones for Social Cash Transfer worth K31,320,000 to Modaka General Trading Limited, a company owned by individuals aligned with the UPND, actually ruling party members holding leadership positions in the party.

A search at PACRA revealed that Modaka General Trading Limited was incorporated in October 2021, two months after the UPND assumed office from the PF.

The legal owners of the company are UPND Lusaka Central constituency vice-secretary for politics Kasola Yasa, Lusaka-Central constituency information and publicity secretary Ngombo Ngombo, while Moses Chinyama is the chief executive officer of the company.

Indeed, there is nothing wrong with any company, including those run by people who are members of the ruling party, participating in public tenders as long as they meet the requisite requirements.

However, we shall raise the arguments which those in the same UPND raised while in opposition, whenever there was any revelation of some public tenders going towards officials in the then ruling PF and their party members. The UPND questioned the criteria that was being used by the PF administration to award the contracts so favourably towards their own members. They felt that on account of their party affiliations, the administration was overbearing on those who were issuing contracts to dish them out towards their members.

And they were justified to raise those questions, as during that time, the country also witnessed an explosion of contracts being dished out to companies that had just been incorporated onto the business scene.

Therefore, the UPND should in the same vein indulge our scrutiny and that of the other Zambians when we raise questions about the criteria being used to award certain public contracts to UPND officials and their friends.

And we wonder why Ngombo Ngombo for instance denied being one of the owners of Modaka which has been awarded the contract, when the search clearly indicates that he owns 5000 shares in the firm, with Yosa and Chinyama holding 5000 each. This especially came on the heels of Ngombo’s senior official in the party justifying the award, a few minutes after Ngombo had denied knowing anything about the company.

Since this is a straightforward deal as those in the UPND have justified it to be, Ngombo when reached for comment should have simply confirmed that yes, he was one of the owners of Modaka and that they had also met the requirements for the award of the contract, and it did not matter whether they were UPND officials or not.

However, Ngombo, when reached for comment, gave a response that simply invited more speculation.

Asked if he was the owner of the company Madoka General Trading Limited, Ngombo said he was not aware about what he was being asked as he had no company.

He, however, demanded to know who informed the media organisation about the award of the same tender.

After being told that it was impeccable sources at the Ministry of Community Development and Ministry of Finance who sought anonymity, Ngombo said: “No! Those are sources but then, too me also I have a business. I am a Zambian citizen and those businesses are given to Zambians.”

After that call, a few minutes later, Daily Revelation received a whatsapp message from Ngombo’s senior party official, UPND deputy media director Cheelo Katambo, who told the reporter that he had been told that she was calling one of his boys.

Katambo proceeded to justify the award of the contract.