The National Constitutional Conference has said the 1.8 billion kwacha spent on the procurement of microphones was necessary for an effective public address system.
NCC Spokesperson Mwangala Zaloumis told Qfm in an interview that the National Constitutional Conference did not have an effective public system for an effective communication during deliberations.
But when asked as to whether the amount spent was not too much for microphones, Miss Zaloumis said the procurement of microphones was not done in a simplistic but in a wholesome manner.
She said it is unfortunate to think that money spent was too much as places like Mulungushi International Conference Centre need quality equipment in order to lift the image of the country.
And Miss Zaloumis has accused those against the NCC of being selfish and in a habit of condemning everything.
She said it is sad that the NCC cannot please everyone but consoled herself that at least the majority Zambians were in full support of the Conference.
But the citizens forum says that the procurement of microphones by the National Constitution Conference (NCC) secretariat is both a scandal and an act of irresponsibility.
Citizens forum executive secretary Simon Kabanda questions how NCC secretariat decide to spend so much money, K1.8 billion at a time when it is concluding its work.
Mr. Kabanda says that the reckless spending of public funds should not be left unpunished.
Mr. Kabanda has since demanded that whoever has been responsible for what he calls careless and reckless spending accounts for procurement.
Mr. Kabanda further adds that the people of Zambia are not going to let this issue die until the culprits are punished for this blatant abuse of public funds.
He added that the Country Cannot allow a situation where money is left to be abused at will by the NCC, when the health sector is limping.
In a statement made available to QFM, He says that several clinics of Lusaka have no medical suplies.
He charged that the whole procurement circus clearly demonstrates that from the beginning the NCC did not have direction.
He accused the NCC of not knowing what to do and the whole process did not have a clearly stipulated time-table.
QFM
Bo mwangala, you are embarassing us and the whole Zambian community. We knew you as an intelligent Lawyer; i think i am not mistaken. What has gone wrong. You now just rumble like the sick Kunda.
K1.8 billion is too much for microfones. people put priority first, people are starving, flood victims, the health sector is terrible and you procure microfones. Wat a joke
Will these microphones be used after the NCC, are they now part of the building’s infrastructure?
Just why, zambians are jokers. microphones microphones why! when people are starving in their houses you spend billions on mics, only to be thrown away in a day after use : what logic is there invest in what will lift people from poverty
Iwe senior citizen what do you have to say about this malabishi ya MMD?
its sad that MMD is now insulting women by abusing the concious of people like Zalomise. Sure, Mrs. Zalomis is not the one saying this nonses from the bottom of her heart. She is reading this speech on behalf of Kunda, Shikapwasha or Mangani.
They must have had gold embroids in them.:o
Another case worth pursuing when these people are out of office.;)
Fellow Country-men,
Let us take a moment to reflect on this one….Zaloumis is quoted as saying they “NEED QUALITY EQUIPMENT IN ORDER TO LIFT THE IMAGE OF THE COUNTRY.” So let me get this straight…According to our current crop of leaders, quality equipment is what will make us look better. I must have been gravely mistaken when I assumed quality healthcare for our people was a little higher on the prioity list. I must have been mistaken when I assumed assisting the millions of hungry people and helping the displaced flood victims carried a little more importance. How dare I place quality education beyond a fancy PA system. My sincerest apologies fellow countrymen for my ignorance. K1.8 Billion Kwacha on microphones!!!? Are you kidding me!
Mr Simon Kabanda is right in questioning the NCC secretariat, in that they are to concluding there work only a few months are remaining, for them to consolidated and submit the report. In prior months communication has been ok, all of a sudden new microphones are need. what has happened to the old ones? Resources are scarce lets use the little money Zambia has on things that will benefit the nation at large.
If any body had any knowledge of the public address system at Mulungushi International Conference Centre they would know that it was just an emarassment to Zambia when ever a big conference was held at the venue. The PA system was obsolete and that is why the Government permitted purchase of a new system to be used by Mulungushi even after the NCC had finished its work. If there is any one fishing for a scandal I don’t think this is the one. As far I have seen at the venue what was imported was a whole Conference system not just microphones. There are amplifiers, speakers and more than 500 microphones. Zambia will be having a big international e-learning confrence in June 2010. I would say if there was no new system it would have been better to move the Conference to another country
K1.5 Billion for microphones,wow! I wish that contract to supply was given to me since i also export such equipment to Zambia.
This brings me back to a debate we had sometime last week regarding tax cuts,i said that the govt of Zambia gets in good revenue but it is the appropriation which is wrong,some of this unnecessary expenditure could be done away with,the govt could have subcontracted,there was no need to spend the amount they spent.So now,what will happen to the microphones after NCC sessions are closed,i guess,will they the equipment or donate to the National Arts Council of Zambia or maybe the equipment will get stolen and be supplied to the govt again when needed? Shame! That money could have been used to upgrade some clinics or hospitals.
Learned citizens, how much is a billion Kwacha in Dollars or Pounds? Can someone help because billions are just flying left, right and centre in Zed. Either it is very little or zed is very rich.
The good thing about a democratic system is that any one can tell lies and any one can make wild accusations especially about public institutions. The challenge is to have an informed public which can tell the difference between wild accussations and the truth. Mr.Simon Kabanda since you are a frequent user of the Mulungushi International Conference Centre, I am sure you will be more than happy when you get to use the new system. Sir, you are not the only patriot in Zambia. I do not think all the delegates in the NCC (including UPND and PF) to which the Executive of the NCC reports are all thieves to authorise wasteful purchase of PA system for the Conference Centre. As a neutral observer I say this is unlikely to be a scandal especially when you compare Mulungushi to Arusha or Nairobi.
The amount in Euros since the equipment came from Germany was Euro 138,000=, You may have read the release from the NCC. How many clinics can you build with 138,000 Euros. Let us have a sense of propotion. The equipment will belong to Mulungushi even while the Conference is going on. They are the owners of the venue where the PA system has been installed.
Loose Canon, what malabishi are you talking about. I have read the data from Ture Blue and it does make sense especially if you know Mulungushi.
Red Card: you are the one who is insulting the women of Zambia by suggesting that Mrs Zaloumis can be used. She is a proffessional lawyer and will tell you the truth even if you don’t like it.
How do you guys expect the delegates to carry out their duties (debating) if the public address system is not functioning well? Stop hating and just live with it. The equipment will be used even after the NCC is dissolved. It’s government property remember. And the contract was made last year not this year. The equipment has only been brought now coz this is when funds were available. Why criticize everything about NCC?
D’banjy almost £270,000.00 for microphones? You must be dim! Like I said, they must have had Gold embroids in them. Buy one get one free would have got enough for every Zambian and more than enough to last another 50 years considering the population of Zambia is less than 11mils.
#15 True Blue or should I say Liar Blue. Wi la bepa abantu iwe mambala!! We know you are trying to justify the unjustifiable but dont create fake exhange rates. #9 Cyberjz. the amount in USD is $400,000 (maybach or ferrari) equivalent to Euro 320,000 or so. With Zambia any opportunity to make a fast buck and r.a.p.e the national treasury with such dodgy deals. too many chaps have a cut in everything. even guy selling tender documents want a cut! “earnign an honest living” is not known in Zed now.
Damn,I didn’t even see this tender,these guys are stealing in broad day light,just like the FJT days. The sad thing is I see how deals are done in the government,it’s such a shame.
Let them resale those microphones and repay the tax payers their money.
Ni ma mic ya bwanji kaansi??? Kooma tivutika nditu……..amama ineee
#19,Digga, #20Chips, #21 Infidels, I know that where public funds are concerned, one has to explain even to retards. This tender was advertised in the Post, Times of Zambia and Daily Mail from 16th to 27th March 2009 by the ZPPA. May be you did not see it. I did. And please mark my words the tender was not for microphones as reported, it was for a full Public Address system; amplifiers, speakers and microphones. Our journalists are not the best we know that, but at least they could avoid misleading headlines since Zambians have a poor reading culture and just read headlines. The system is a full PA system at 138, 772 Euros from Broad Communication Limited of Lusaka. Zambians love a diet of conspiracies. There is none here.
I have always questioned the Integrity of the NCC. First of all, when I read the NCC act, which most of you Zambians don’t bother to read, I was happy that the bulk of members would be people already in Parliament with additions of a few people to help even the balance out. To me, this meant the NCC was going to be very cost-effective as only those non-Parliamentarians or non-Minsiters would be entitled to extra allowances. An MP does not need to be paid any extra penny for engaging in a legislative activity. That is their job and that is the role of the legislature which already funded. We cannot ffund the same functionary twice – Think and think, all Mps who have received NCC money should actually be barred from ever standing again. They are thieves!!! Period!!
#24, True Watcher, Most Zambians do not read and I was therefore encouraged when you said you had read the NCC Act. I have also read the ACT. As you know, the Act provides that the NCC could only meet when Parliament was not meeting. So if the NCC did not pay Members of Parliament how were they going to survive in Lusaka when they were supposed to have gone home? The bigesst problem in our country is simple jealousy. If one gets some allowance which you are not entitled to then he or she is a thief. We need to slim down the public sector so that most people will get their better pay from the private sector. In the current situation where allowances from politics are considered high we all end up being pedlers of hatred. Allowances at Standard Chartered are larger but that does not matter.
True blue, your insults are not helping. Perhaps approach this debate/discussion with an open mind. I don’t think one needs much to understand the purpose of making a tender advertisement. I would imagine it allows for a competitive bidding process that should be transparent while allowing for fair pricing. If you can sit in front of your computer and call others infidels then I can imagine you must also be very able to browse the web and look into the cost of purchasing and installing an effective PA system. What is ironic is while you blame illiteracy and jealousy for Zambia’s problems, the truth is that the biggest problem is the culture of tolerating corrupt practices, ones of inflating the cost of anything paid for by tax payers to benefit those involved in the transaction
We all know how it works, I win the tender, I supply it at a price that allows me to make a ridiculous profit, I bribe those that ensured I get the tender and in the end the tax payers lose out.
So you see ba True Blue, the concerns are for multiple reasons. The practice is immoral, it is equal to robbery and it takes advantage of the very people you blame, those not empowered with the ability to read and write. It is disgusting and rather than try to defend it I would distance myself from it. It literally is like buying a pair of shoes worth $10,000 on a 1 million kwacha a month income while not being able to afford to send your kids to school, then turning around and making those kids farm to supplement your excessive lifestyle. Oh, and then call them jealous and illiterate.
@ 5 pin per $ that is $360,000 Wow!!!!!!!!
$360,000 $360,000 $360,000:(|)
At our goal is to become a middle income country: Not when we spend more on microphones than we spend on say healthcare or roads. Thats not middle income, thats stinking rich or otherwise misplaced prorities**== KAYA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
lol. that is all there is to do now. yes ba zambia.. microphones will make us sophisticated
The PA system is powerful.
When you speak into it, you get translated out the other end.
So you can pick Bemba, Tonga, Lenje, Soli, etc… (All 72 tribes).
Only MMD can think like this to include all tribes.
If it was PF, the deliberations would have been in Bemba only.
UPND would have had theirs in Tonga only.
MMD caters for all tribes!
I get upset when this RB instructs this and that minister to release money for this and road repairs whenever there is an election around the corner.Throwing that kind of money on voice enhencers is not only day light robbery but a sin in the eyes of God. My friend lost a relative due to lack of simple drugs like panado and yet money can be wasted on rubbish. We admire certain countries advance when we could do better than them if we can put essential things as P1. We may have degrees but if we have no brains those degrees will remain like toilet paper. Infact you dont need to campain if you put your house in order because actions speak louder than words.This where MMD is missing the point.
This is scandal! In a few years you will not find any of these microphones. We had an international conferences of the OAU a few years back. Where are the microphones? And this is just microphones. Next it is the chairs, the drapes, the carpet. Mulungushi is supposed to generate its own funds. I have attended many conferences there and organizers pay to hold conferences there.
Ba LT drapes is a type of curtain. Why star it out?
d r a p e s is a type of curtain. Check your screening algorithm!!
#26,Youthful Citizen, We are all too involved in politics for any truth to make sense because each person has a political agenda and truth becomes the first casualty. Worst of all the newspapers that are supposed to tell the truth, both public and private newspapers all have political agendas. So, where are Zambians supposed to find the truth? Any body in Mulungushi knows that what was bought is a complete PA system including, amplifiers, computers, speakers and microphones, yet the debate is about microphones because that is what the Post wants people to think. The suppliers are an expatriate owned Company called Broad Communications. May be since we Zambians don’t trust any black Zambian, let the British and Americans do procurrement for Zambia. Then every one will be happy.Epo…
#37 thought NCC was renting the premises from MICC for its deliberations,if that being the case why should the NCC buy this so called equipment thought theirs is to make the constitution.Why not the owners of the premises MICC.
#23 True blue don’t call your friends retards just because they think different from. Twalakushamo shapa ndola. Ichindike.
No matter how much you try to justify the expense its blatant above of public funds. Why didnt they replace the PA system for Mulungushi when we had the ICASA or AU summit being held there. And now buy the PA system when the NCC is winding up. We need to be serious as a country if we are ever to develop and don’t defend thieves else I will say Kapoko’s deals were also a good cause after all he was employingt people from his stolen money hence supporting familes!!
Set your priorities straight, Effective tax collection, Properly managed municipalities, Mining, Agriculture, Tourism, Transportational infrastrature, FIRST……and the rest will fall in place!!!! Otherwise forget about bettering that country. Good luck!
Call it speakers,mic or sycadellics,it’s all nonsense to spend such kind of money on bull-crap like the NCC.Which majority starving Zambian even know about this constitution making sham.The poor Zambians would steal go about their humble daily chores even without that useless paper called the constitution.Leave such constitutional realities to real democracies like the US where even loafers line up to have a meal for the day.Personally,am beefed with NCC,come our time,these people will be made to account for this day-light plunder of our meager financial resources.Ba matipa….we need drugs,schools,jobs….
Let me guided here, who owns the Mulungushi Conference Centre? Maybe government but is it the responsibility of NCC or part of their budget to refurbish the MICC? I question the NCC not because I do not support their good work, but purely out of concern for the way the Secretariat seems to be abusing the trust of us the people who put them there and that of the government which takes the brunt of the blame for such misdemeanors. Technocrats at NCC listen, it is this kind of behaviour which gives ammunition for the born critics to smear the otherwise noble purpose of the NCC.
Funny how you dont see Old citizen on real matters like this one. we will imprison these theives come november 2011. start practicing eating beans you thieves!!
Whatever the case-Whichever Political party or non partisan you are.
This procurement is complete no sense
# 44 Couldn’t agree more.
#43Loose Canon, How are you going to imprison ‘these thieving thieves’?
True Blue # 11 , 14 & 15 has actually shed a lot more light on this story and i don’t understand why he’s been villified for that . Sure , there’s been some offensive language used , but that’s quite normal on LT nowadays .
The cost given by the NCC release according to True Blue is 138000 euros which is approx $190000 .The cost reported here on LT (and i presume in the papers) is K1.8 billion which is approx $ 400000 So, how much was actually spent ? Which is the correct figure ?
If the true figure is 138000 euros , then i would say that is a realistic amount for the purchase of a conference PA system . However , if it is $400K then this amount would seem excessive but then again , i’ve never been to Mulungushi so i’ve no idea how big the place is.
PA System for NCC
I’m not surprised by the reaction of Simon Kabanda who is a failed Priest! He survives by opposing everything as a way of keeping himself relevant and receive donor funding. How can a person who is always attending Conferences at Mulungushi fail to support the buying of such equipment? By the way the equipment is government property. The Post Newspaper is lying. I went to Mulungushi yesterday and discovered that what was bought were not microphones but an entire conference system. The Post never digs deeper anymore. May be it is the reason they cannot dig for the reason Sata was imprisoned!
#48 yr hardworking Times is digging deeper about Sata s past,so why should the Post start digging the same story?
Hey true( FALSE ) blue! You surely are spinning for your masters. Your despicable comments are an affront to Zambians who are smarter than you think. Where`s common sense here? Explain the criteria used as justification in prioritizing that purchase at the expense of real needs that matter in the lives of Zambians, such as HEALTH, EDUCATION, POVERTY ALLEVIATION,ROADS, HOUSING, DISASTER RELIEF;AS IN FLOODS.. THE LIST GOES ON. You sound like a beneficiary in some ways, hence your deliberate blindness. Look in the rear view mirror and see the deplorable state in which you’re leaving the country and the general populace. Twisted minds like yours fuel the impetus of witting and unwitting people of vantage positions to mass-loot the country with impunity, driving it and it`s citizenry…
Twisted minds like yours fuel the impetus of witting and unwitting people of vantage positions to mass-loot the country with impunity, driving it and it`s citizenry into deeper mud. You`re perpetuating corruption which has permeated the fabric of our society. Reason not with your Tummy but the mind through sight and the cries of the people. By the way your deception by using different go-by names as seen in 16,17&48 has been busted as you are one and the same. Stop masquerading as a patriot, using the national flag. You`re a wolf in a sheep skin. It`s about time you got real and crossed over to the side of the majority Zambians probably you would be empathetic.