New Labour Party (NLP) leader Fresher Siwale has alleged that President Hakainde Hichilema has vested interests in Grant Thornton, a firm Government has contracted alongside the PriceWater House to audit the defense forces in the country.
Siwale insists that if President Hichilema wants to run his private companies, then he better resign as Head of State.
But Development Activist Davies Mwashi Lupindula says there is nothing sinister about PriceWater House, the two foreign auditing firms to audit the Zambia Army, Zambia Air force(ZAF)and Zambia National Service(ZNS) because there procurements are international in nature.
Speaking in an interview, Siwale said President Hichilema was one of the Directors at Grant Thornton, the firm that was instrumental in the privatisation of Zambian companies but wonders whether the Head of State had relinquished his position in that firm.
“In line with principles of good governance, transparency and accountability, President Hakainde Hichilema must declare interest in Grant Thornton before it begins to do business with Government and that should have been done earlier when he was supposed to have declared his assets which he has failed to do up to now,” he said.
Siwale wonders whether the contract given to Grant Thornton and PriceWaters house was an open tender.
“Did other accounting firms bid for this tender and was procedure of accountability and transparency followed in awarding Grant Thornton and PriceWater house this tender?”
The opposition leader added:”It is not every Jim and Jack that can be given a contract to audit the security wings of Government. Hakainde (President Hichilema could have declared interest in Grant Thornton before allowing it to do business with Government,” Siwale noted.
He insisted that the Head of State is a servant of the Zambian people hence, he cannot do private business .
Does Fresher Siwale know how partnerships operate? Journalists who cover such people are supposed to ask questions. And Siwale is a retired teacher. So what was he teaching?
This government is on remote control. They need to tell the nation why we need foreign companies which are linked to the exploitation of our resources to now exploit our security wings. This is a setup and should be rejected by the Zambian people. It’s our PEACE these people are after, they want to break us without firing a single shot and if our leaders are so naive to just follow the status quo, we are doomed. We credit our leaders with intelligence therefore let ‘right be done’ on this one.
PF are shivering in their boots hence all the noise, they know that their private defense ATM withdrawals are about to be laid bare!
@ Kalulu, if you know that people are abusing defence funds, then why do you need an outsider to lay it bare for you as you put it? Partisan politics aside, this is a very serious issue and we shouldn’t take it lightly because it has the potential to displace our people in the long run. You just don’t hand out an inventory of your security secrets to anyone especially countries with vested interests in your land and resources.
You clearly do not have an idea how firms work, once one leaves, he cannot share in the profits of such firms, the list of beneficial owners in Grant Thornton is available and HH is one of them. If they were selected in an open bidding process, review the prices, quality of the proposal, a president is not involved in this process.
GRZ should have done more to explain their reasoning in going with those 2 firms……….
But the reasoning that because grant Thornton is one of means corruption is childish……….and shallow.
That’s like saying because one went to UNZA , that institution can not be selected for consultancy work or it is corruption
We all know that farker has breached alot of rules.
Could this have happened under KK, or Mwanawasa or Sata, or RB or Lungu? I don’t think these leaders could have allowed it. Who is our President listening lending an ear to?
Who audits the military in foreign governments? Is it not the same International Auditors? The military equipment we have were made in and bought from foreign countries, How does a Zambian auditing firm go to UK to audit the British government on equipment they supplied to Zambia? We are exposed, anyway, because we do not manufacture any military equipment and we have very little to hide. Those auditing firms are professional, and they can’t disclose information obtained in the course of their duty anyhow. By now they should have been exposed, from their previous engagements with other countries.
But it is those who stole from the military who are worried because their money laundering conduit is about to be exposed.
@FCB, which foreign government use Grant Thornton or PWC to audit their military? These are two firms which are influential in their respective countries namely US and UK. They also happen to be firms which audit most of the companies which run your natural resources. These people know the truth about your resources and now you want to let them into your security secrets? Just look at what happened when we lost control of our mines? Why would you want to share your security secrets with the world in the first place? Audit is not just about counting what equipment you have, its about giving a true and full picture of your military.
Ask this man if ECL still has 2 NRCs and if he is still not Zambian? go shave!
Manufacturers of weapons are private companies. These companies later export to Zambia and this information is later audited by the same audit firms whose suitability to audit the Zambian military some people are questioning.
Suppliers to the Zambian military are private firms both local and foreign. These private firms are subject to audit by the same firms that hv been contracted to audit the Zambian military. PriceWaterhouseCoopers in UK can obtain price information of supplies to Zambia and compare with what Zambia was actually charged. HH has got it right.
@Gunner in Zambia, do you know what’s involved in an audit? Please stop trivialising the issue if you have no understanding of the process and consequences. We have no problem with auditing our military but the problem is that Zambia will pay millions for a report which will expose our military to the outside world including foreign government sponsored militia who can cause issues when our government finally realise their fate for befriending these dark forces.