By Staff Reporter
State House is seeking to entrench thieving and lawlessness at the Zambia Medicines and Medical Supplies Agency (ZAMMSA) over the lawless decision by Health Ministry to call for applications for the position of director general at the institution.
Speaking with Daily Revelation Newspaper over the weekend on Ministry of Health advertisment calling for applicants to fill in the vacant position for the director general at the agency to send their applications to the Minister, Kalaba said the move was deliberate in order to hire a user-friendly DG who will do the bidding of State House and those in government, over the awarding of contracts, particularly with the urgent need for resource mobilisation for the ruling party ahead of the 2026 general elections.
Kalaba said the nation had not forgotten that the former DG at the agency, Victor Nyasulu, complained about the wanton political interference from State House and government officials, complaining that he used to receive phone calls from named presidential aides, on procurement matters.
He said Nyasulu complained about the heavy handed political influence on the US$23 million contract on health centre kits that was awarded to Europe’s Mission Pharma.
He said while appointing board members at ZAMMSA was under the purview of the minister, he wondered why the Minister had further given himself powers which he did not have by seeking to spread lawlessness in the appointment of the DG.
“The ZAMMSA Act of 2019 is very clear: The Board shall appoint, through a competitive and transparent process, a Director-General who shall be— (a) the chief executive officer of the Agency; and (b) responsible for the day-to-day administration of the Agency. (2) A person qualifies for appointment as Director-General if that person— (a) holds a bachelor’s degree, or an equivalent qualification, which is accredited or recognised and validated by the Zambia Qualifications Authority; (b) holds a postgraduate degree in business management, public health, pharmacology, pharmacy, supply chain management or a related field, which is accredited or recognised and validated by the Zambia Qualifications Authority; (c) has at least five years’ experience working at a senior management level; (d) is of proven integrity; and (e) has not been convicted of an offence involving fraud or dishonesty. (3) The Director-General shall attend meetings of the Board and of a committee, and may address those meetings but shall not vote on any matter,” he stated
Kalaba charged that government had conveniently not appointed a new board at ZAMMSA for close to one year since the Minister dissolved the previous one so that they could create a loophole through which to appoint a user-friendly DG.
He questioned who the same director general that the Minister was seeking to appoint would be reporting to since the law provides that a director general should report to the board.
Kalaba said in the absence of the board, the whole procumemt system would become a ‘sangwapo’ of corruption where those in power would choose which user-friendly companies to award contracts to for the enrichment of those in high office.
“We know about the rot that has and is still happening at ZAMMSA, but we have also heard of several accounts of how the previous board chairperson would insist on having matters run professionally. Could this be the reason why they do not want the inconvenience of the board in their attempts to have a user-friendly DG,?” Kalaba asked. ” They should tell us why they are insisting on seeking to entrench lawlessness when they promised that they would handle things methodically. Or are we mistaken that probably the methodical aspect they are talking about is where they methodically plot lawlessness in order to achieve their corrupt desired ends?”
He hoped that the arrests and the other investigations announced by the Law Enforcement Agencies following the ZAMMSA forensic audit were not being used as a smokescreen to hoodwink Zambians and bring the Americans back on board that they were doing something about the ills at ZAMMSA.
Kalaba said the fight must not be targeted at the ‘small fishes’, but all those who were in the line of authority, such as former Health minister should be questioned about the filth that has emerged from the report.
“And there will be no harm actually to extend investigations over how some of the contracts like those on health centre kits where awarded, including assertions that officials from State House were making phone calls about procurements,” said Kalaba. “In fact, it is odd that officials from State House were mentioned and the President has elected silence over the matter. Does he know something about some of these deals? We need to hear from him about his own officials that were named in the saga.”
Kalaba bemoaned the total governance failure that has characterized the UPND government, resulting in the Institute of Governance flagging some unethical practices.
“IOD has raised grave governance lapses, if you go to the ministry of Sport it’s the same thing, the Minister has failed to constitute a Board for over two years now, a clear breach of the Sports Council of Zambia Act.”
