Zambia’s largest pension fund NAPSA has awarded a K4 million contract for cleaning services to a foreign owned firm that is under investigations by the Anti Corruption Commission for corruption, tax evasion and money laundering.
Tender documents seen confirm that the firm was recently awarded the lucrative contract to clean Napsa owned properties including Levy Mall, Napsa Headquarters including regional offices.
The award of the contract has infuriated the Cleaning Association of Zambia and have since called for its cancellation.
Association President Lawrence Makumbi stated that awarding such a huge contract to a foreign entity abrogates the law that stipulates that the cleaning sector is a preserve of local companies.
Mr Makumbi wondered why Napsa can proceed to do business with an entity which had had its accounts frozen by the ACC for corruption related offenses.
“We know that the ACC has found some very damaging issues at this company and its mind boggling that Napsa has ignored all those and awarded the contract,” he said.
Mr Makumbi believes that awarding such a huge contract to a locally indigenous owned company would have gone a long way in growing the cleaning sector.
“Imagine 4 million given to a local coming, even splitting the order so that more companies participate. That would help grow our industry,” he stated.
Mr Makumbi has since implored President Hakainde Hichilema to take a keen interest at the happenings in some parastatals.
“Our appeal is that the procurement team at Napsa be disbanded, some people there have overstated and they are acting not in the interest of the organisation and are facilitating corruption,” he said.
Mr. Makumbi insisted that local cleaning firms have the capacity to clean all major establishments in the country.
“Who is cleaning these places? It’s the same Zambian men and women. The foreign company owners just come here to get the contracts and they ask our people to clean the places. So Zambians can clean and clean very well.”
“Makumbi has since implored President Hakainde Hichilema to take a keen interest at the happenings in some parastatals.”
You think this will be attended to?
Cleaners from China….
The UPND government is full of experts who did their homework. As you can see on this company’s profile they are specialists in laundering so they will clean up Zambia mpaka to the vaults of the Bank of Zambia
This is Grand Corruption
Local is Laka pilishi…mwapela abakunse zoona!
And some minister was talking about some legislation to protect Zambian contractors.
Imwe ba Lamecki Talaleni fye. Zambians dont know how to clean. Thats why we have cholera seasonally. Have you ever heard of cholera in Botswana?
Don’t talk about things you have zero knowledge. Ask the Public Health specialists why Zambia is more prone to cholera outbreaks than Botswana or Namibia.
There goes a sleazy Zambian @ Katana trying to look for excuses. Please join self defence practitioner, Hamasaka’s team
@Katana you don’t need a thesis to grasp cholera’ s adventures in Zambia. Maybe you are too young but those of us who grew up in early Zambia will tell you we never knew cholera. We read scanty stories of it breaking out in Tanzania and DRC and that was it. Because Zambia was then a hygienic nation with garbage collection services and functioning sewage systems until the 80s so don’t try inventing theories of why Zambia but not Botswana Namibia is prone to lack of hygiene
This is sad reading, but on the other hand our zambian companies lack strategy. Why would any big organization want to deal with multiple vendors, that is multiple contracts and multiple headaches. These cleaning companies should come together, form a bigger entity that can bid for big contracts and be held accountable for lack of performance if any.
But everyone wants to be a ceo of their 3 people company. There is no way you can win big contracts, there is too much risk. My 2 cents
You are so right. South African security companies often come together to get para-statal contracts
Nemchem is thrown under the bus.
Where is locals’ empowerment? Currently those who haul petroleum into Zambia are mostly foreigners who are oiling big fishes for cuts. Same shame in many sectors.
Lets be fair…If you open a company in Zambia and you’re black ingenious Zambian and employ fellow Zambians to work for you….first thing they want is to steal from you…..but if you’re a foreigner in Zambia especially white Foreigner and you employ black ingenious Zambians…they will work very hard and loyal to your company and within 6 months you can even open another company….i personally know the owners of Nemchem in South Africa i worked with their Sister company which exports cleaning chemicals from RSA to Zambia…very good people…..
They steal because some employers are difficult. They pay very little and very late. There was a security company which went for months without paying its guards and yet the mines were paying this company on time. The Zambian owner would take his family to Miami USA and give excuses that the mines had not paid. The mines terminated the contract and engaged an expatriate owned firm.
Yayi ba anonymous Zambian business management is wishy-washy. They often dont even know how and what they are supposed to supervise to meet their contracts. On the other hand i will agree tuma inferiority complexes make Zambian workers better servants of muzungu management than muntu mismanagers
This rubbish of it’s kind. Let’s not abuse our nationality for everything. This guy has been making noise from the days of PF he started with the mines now he comes to napsa. Each company runs its own procurement procedure. There is no way contracts can be given just because it’s own by a Zambia. Provide competitive service you will be awarded contracts.
Why not name the Company? We don’t want to speculate that you’re talking about Savenda. If it’s Savenda then you’re creating a wrong perception. Savenda is a local Company owned by settler from Zimbabwe. Kabwata has a Zimbabwean MP. The only corruption that the UPND see is that committed by others especially the PF. So you’re knocking on a closed door
Reporters are failing us here. What is the company? What are they being investigated for? Why have the reporters not communicated with NAPSA so we hear their side of the story? Perhaps the ATI should not have been passed, our journalists are failing to do the bare minimum.
Assume it is NEMCHEM that is being talked about. They have been around for a very long time and employ more than 10,000 Zambians in the industry. In fact, the owners have made this country their home. The complainant was brought to task for not accounting for the contributions made for the pensions.
So where are the local cleaning companies and have they survived? As long as Zambians are employed, I am good with it. Who cares where you from as long as employment is growing.
ACC suspended their accounts due to the investment and diversification they have made in the tourism industry. Is this what we want?
stop living in the pre – colonial days.
This is common in our parastatals. The procurement people at NAPSA know that when these foreign businessmen pay them their cuts it will be hidden, unlike when they try to scrounge for a cut from a Zambian company who might even report them to ACC. This is the same reason things such as school desks, police and all defence force officers uniforms, ballot papers etc have been bought from abroad since KK left office. Surprisingly you find that the same Zambians doing this are the same ones complaining about the poor USD/Kwacha exchange rate, forgeting that they are the causers. One wonders if this selfishness will ever end in Zambia. The procurement profession has been taken over by people who joined it specifically for the 10% commissions, unlike we old buyers who served honestly.
You said you love me all around the world. Saaaaaid ooooh baby. Ya ni kolwa singing for baby Regina
Because Zambian owned companies do shoddy work… always. Even the Zambians who clean when company is Zambian owned don’t do their job perfectly. We have a culture of laziness!