KITWE town clerk David Kabanda and director of finance Benson Mwila have been suspended from the Kitwe City Council (KCC).
Local Government Service Commission chairperson Charles Sambondu confirmed the suspension of the duo in a telephone interview on October 16 from Lusaka. Mr Sambondu, however, refused to disclose the reasons why they have been suspended.
“I can confirm that Kitwe town clerk and director of finance have been suspended, their suspension is with immediate effect. There are certain issues that we are investigating,” Mr Sambondu said.
But sources at the council yesterday said that Mr Kabanda was suspended for allegedly refusing to reverse the sale of an institution house to a former employee who has since retired.
The source charged that Mr Kabanda is an innocent person saying the sale of the house to the named retired employee was done before he was appointed town clerk for Kitwe.
“The Kitwe town clerk David Kabanda was suspended for refusing to reverse the sale of the institution house that was sold to the former employee who has retired but what is important to know is that the sale of the house was backed by council resolution and was done before Mr Kabanda was appointed town clerk,” the source said.
The source further said the director of finance is being investigated in connection with the plots in Kitwe West on the Kalulushi road where some funds have allegedly been misapplied.
Efforts to get a comment from Mr Kabanda failed as his phone went unanswered while Mr Mwila said he has not received any communication over his suspension.
[Zambia Daily Mail]
All Councils must be cleaned up before gov’t can allocate more funds for service provision. MMD destroyed the local gov’t system and promoted corruption among these people, surely how does someone who is in arrears for 17 months continue to work and sent his children to school and feed the family if not getting money through dubious ways? Local gov’t is key to service delivery, clean up the system!
I am totally for the whole clean up of government thing only if the employees replacing them are civil servants and not PF cadres because that will not have any overall effect.
indeed the council of kitwe has a lot to answer when it comes to plot allocations. they us plots in Luangwa which they had sold to other people earlier. how can the council sell the same plots twice? don’t they keep records? one would think it is only individuals who are dubious in their dealings but the council is falling prey to the same habits. improve serving your people. by the way the issue of servicing the areas you are allocating people with plots is also pending? 47 years after independence you guys want us to be using pit latrines. what is happening to the service charge money? why do you charge for a service you cannot provide??? get suspended maybe you will work better ……
What has happened at Kitwe council MUST happen at Parliament Motel or is it brothel… Does President SATA’s rule using 10 commandments allow the Parliament Motel to be used as a brothel for parliamentarians? Are the sexual scandals at parliament Motel ( A Public institution,now a brothel) reflect a model of honourable persons (HONOURABLE MPS)?
Am very dissapoited with the Kitwe city council over plots. They sold us plot its now two years in Luangwa township but up to now we do not know our plots. Each time we go there we are told not yet ready. How long does it take to have these plot ready for people to access them. The new Town Clerk is very innocent because he found the whole system was rotten by the Ali Simwinga administration. Shame to our country after so many years of independence but we cannot save our own people in a manner that we may wish to be saved too.
probe this chap called ALI SIMWINGA, he must be the main culprit in this scandal. the chap called DAVID KABANDA has got a little to answer… this chap SIMWINGA was Town Clerk for more than 20years, he took council as his village but not as a work place…. we are coming for you and all you worked inconjunction with him. pasopo
The said house was sold to Ali Simwinga despite having bought several other houses earlier. Simwinga messed up KCC big time and left it in a very serious mess. Kitwe City looks like a big shanty compound to Simwinga and a certain Musukwa who was his partner in plots crimes. Pliz probe this institution further.
If talk about corruption in Zambia, names that has not seen probe are Ali Simwinga and his protégé Musukwa, My heart bleeds to see buyantanshi township belonging to these two. Every open space either belongs to Musukwa or Simwinga under his relatives name Simpungwe. This is where the fight and probes should begin. Huge tracks of land shared amongst council bosses. And the reason of the suspension of the is simple these are MMD blue eyed boys. We know them. This time Kubeba their time is up.
Yes I agree the man is very innocent. He is too new to this place. The problem was with Mr Ali Simwinga. He has over 50% of the plot here in Kitwe either directly or through relations. This man made Kitwe like he owned it. Its true that he just was just a play boy both at the Council and compounds. Each time you want a plot you will not get it through normal procedure but corruptly.
Shame to us as Zambia its like we do not like to serve our fellow Zambian in a good manner.
Pliz do a land audit in Kitwe and see the mess Ali Simwinga and Musukwa have created. Do not just end at the land audit, check also how council houses were sold and who bought them. Check all areas like Buchi, Chimwemwe, Ndeke, Parklands, Kwacha, Kamitondo, Riverside, etc. In all these areas Simwinga has properties fraudulently acquired. He used alot of fake names to do this.
Ali Simwiinga.. investigate the chap PERIOD. we all know about him.
Investigate the office of the auditor general in Kitwe for gross incompetence as well, if not incompetent then they must have been feeding from the same dish as Simwiinga.
LT you should be questioning Local govt service commision (LGSC)’s double dealing.This commision wants to make aname on petty issues like this one.Ask them about whio will finance local authorities after amending the LG act.They are the employeres bt since then they have been mute.An employer pays salaries for his employees, bt this commision wants to enjoy firing people and shift the obligation to pay to councils.This instiyution will soon be irrelevant.Let the president SATA fire all these commisioners
i conquer with you m, the commission is a nuisance and it is owing the nation an explanation on how they are operating. for example we need to know recruitment of qualified personel in government offices-when it will start, what criteria has been used to recruit selected few interns from universities, how they have managed to overlook qualifications of some critical offices-for example kitwe city council as big as is the city, there is only one inspector(chief) who is a matal fabricator by proffesion from nortech yet plenty of university graduates marching street. we need a revolution in all things for us to develop.
Ever since this (LGSC) commision came into being Kabanda is the first one to be fired,The question is why.Kabanda is barely less than 6 months in Kitwe and surely can he be that naive to start selling properties that fast.LT ask them serious questions,many of us dont even knw why they exist parrallel to Locals authority unions.After the amendment Act, does it mean LGSC will render Council unions irrelevant.Are thry goign now to be involved in salary bargains with central government.Instead of firing innocent people let LGSC spend time answering these questions.
The Local Govt service commissioner should as well check out the Council Secretary for Mkushi District Council. He has made his trabilist to continue working even after she has retired without a contract. He has also embarked on the construction of an institutional house which he will occupy and it is expected to gobble about 350 million. He is too movious and it seems he is just in mkushi to enrich himself as he has already acquired 3 farms in less than 2 years and he says he will go back richer than he came. He also uses Council vehicles and drivers to go to his farm using council resources.
The Council Secretary for Mkushi also gave the former DC a council vehicle and he was driving himself after the President had fired him.
if u ask me how theses scum are done at the kitwe city council i can give you a list.it start from the town clerk and then legal the town planners so it a chine.some of the officers kcc have taken advantage bcoz there boss are initiating these dirty business,there issues like double allocation of plot,these people are criminals they even go as far as lands to give false information
I want to agree with all the other bloggers that yes indeed Ali Simwinga abused his office and his workers too much to the extent that he started claiming he was more than a minister in govt. The house that he has just bot from kcc was meant to be an institutional house for future town clerks but because his greed and selfishness he manipulated the system to the disadvantage of the council.Now KCC rents a house for their new town clerk at a very high cost to the council.He dubiously acquired plots all over kitwe.He even started dealings with senegalese chaps who used to give him a lot of money.Most of council properties have been sold to his relatives. Let the authorities investigate him thoughly.No wonder he was resisting to retire even when it no longer made sense to have him around.