By Nalucha Nganga Ziba Country Direction, ActionAid Zambia
The revelations of the Public Accounts Committee hearing on the US$17 million drug supply scandal makes a sad hearing. Indeed, corruption and mismanagement of public resources (Taxpayers money) in our country has reached pervasive levels that affect the State’s ability to provide better public services such as education, healthcare, sanitation, and security.
It is clear that the purchase of defective medical supplies was a well-planned corrupt syndicate of the Ministry of Health, Zambia Medicines Regulatory Authority, and Zambia Medical Stores. We, however, want to make exceptional chide for the Ministry of Health as a principal government agent in the transaction for not following most procurement procedures ardently due to suspected corruption in the transaction. It is disheartening to see that the government institution mandated to safeguard the life and health of Zambian people like the Ministry of health has continued making unpleasant headlines regarding misapplication and misappropriation of public resources in our country.
We are perplexed to understand that the Ministry of Health did not only over-look most procurement bidding process in awarding HoneyBee the contract but further went ahead through the Medical Stores Limited and sanctioned the distribution of defective medical supplies with the full knowledge of them being defective while Zambia Medicines Regulatory Authority expeditiously and suspiciously issued the license to HoneyBee in days just to facilitate a corrupt deal.
The Honeybee Corrupt Medical Supply Scandal is a crime against humanity as the lives and safety of most Zambians have been put at serious risk at the expense of the flamboyant lifestyle of the few selfish individuals who have refused to live within their means. We wonder how many patients have been denied survival on their sickbed for using defective medical supplies. This could just one of the corrupt scandals happening in most public institutions.
As we have always stated, Corruption is not just a development issue but also a social issue as it aggravates inequality and injustice and undermines stability. Envisioning to safeguard the lives of every Zambia and attaining economic development with high corrupt levels is like attempting to fetch water using the basket and expecting it to be full.
We would, therefore, like to call on the President not to cast a blind eye and play a deaf ear on the ever-increasing mismanagement of public resources and corrupt incidences in the country by ensuring perpetrators of financial crimes regardless of their social status and political affiliation are prosecuted.
The ministry of Health over the years has continued to make handlines in scandalous mismanagement of public resources and corruptions issues and we are therefore calling on the president to act and drop the Minister of Health and his two Permanent secretaries for presiding over corrupt transactions which does not only risk the lives of Zambians but impede donor/bilateral confidence. In the same vein, we are calling on the Donor community to take a keen interest in the happenings at the Ministry of Health as they are also important stakeholders.
We would like to further reiterate the call from many stakeholders to have the procurement mandate withdrawn from the Ministry of Health by the Zambia Public Procurement Authority with immediate effect until the ministry puts its house in order. The Law Enforcement Agents like the Anti-Corruption Commission must also prove their relevance to this country especially in this case with overwhelming evidence of corruption in all transactions. It is our sincere hope that with yesterday’s PAC hearing revelations, Justice will prevail for the Zambian people and that the case will not die a natural death like many other cases.
Fulata Siyunyi will not allow any prosecution to take place. She could always pretend but will enter a nolle after that.
I disagree with Nalucha that the Minister should be dropped. The president highlighted the impotence of the ACC and their inclination to focus on PEPs (politically exposed people) only while civil servants freely plunder public resources. Nalucha should instead call for the reform of the ACC, it should be disbanded and reorganised immediately. The erring officers at the different institutions must be prosecuted immediately. Let’s not politicise everything Nalucha, let’s be objective.
?? should be made to refund the $17million
This is truly a crime against humanity, what kind people can do this to their own citizens… this is worse that genocide.
DR Chilufya will survive this one too. How do we sue these crooks? Since Lungu is scared of them or maybe eating with them.
Unfortunately when it comes to money most indians are not honest. That Honeybee chap went to the Parley Committee in mkanjo as if he’s pious, which God does he worship? Definitely not Allah because Sharia would have both his limbs amputated. We’re under siege, it therefore becomes incumbent upon all of us to protect ourselves from these mercenaries
Honey ? must pay back the money and have the contract cancelled
I have no comment as I shudder to imagine that our own Ministry of Health can go to such levels and expose the country to such health dangers!! In Islamic countries, all those involved would have been killed through stoning. There is no crime worse than this. In the first place, Honeybee was just a business name. How surely can the whole lot tender and procurement teams give such a huge contract to an individual! And worse still only the PS Kaku seems to have been sanctioned while the rest are enjoying the loot when most Zambians have been poisoned and diseased through consumption of unfit products.
Is there any need to be perplexed on what is happening in the country especially at the Ministry of Health?
You allow monkeys to look after a maize field then later you are surprised that the field has no maize?
Haha who will remove Dr.Kabolala Chitalu Sampa? Not now under Lungu.
Let the investigation be concLuded before you point fingers. If you used these products then congratulations on your pregnancy.
Every thing is a joke to you KZ, just like the joke you are chi colour
What is the commander in thief doing about it?
All those that used the condoms should sue Ministry of Health Dr Chilufya and Honeybee. In fact crowd funding to engage a private prosecutor is the best path to get justice for victims and the tax payer.
Watch “The Honey Bee Scandal; Expired drugs; Tefyo;” on YouTube
Honey bee must have their contract cancelled
That’s why voting on chi bululu and pa chi cousin lines does not pay, at the end of it we are all feeding on expired drugs and defective condoms, whether PF or UPND.
VOTE WISELY AND VOTING WISELY MEANS VOTING FOR UPND TEAM.
What has a condom got to do with governance. Let us be very serious. There are channels that can be followed within legal means where there is a possible case of negligence. How do you involve the president in a condom matter
When you have a president who does not deny that he is a corrupt theif everyday , this is what you get…..
Every civil servant does not mind being called a corrupt theif.
Monkey see , monkey do
Shame! Now junior health workers have joined the gravy bandwagon by Illegally issuing medical certificates to unsuspecting citizens and converting money to personal gain through the use of the fake date stamps and receipts.
The accused were found in possession of two date stamps from the mentioned hospital.
I think some Zambians deserve this because they asked for it. Where’s Godfridah Sumaili to call the nation to prayer so thst God can continue to bless this Christian nation.
Kushamo imbuto, bushe balishamo imbuto? Eeh kansi palibe kantu!
Why is Chitalu Chilufya this greedy?
Has he not stolen enough?
How much is enough? What does he plan to do with all this money?
How many people have contracted HIV and STDs? These products have been around for years now.
What next? Fake ARVs in hospitals? Fake antibiotics?
Anyone this cruel would not hesitate to gas citizens.
Leadership is Responsibility which requires taking serious action when need arises
One La7y Lungu has already sang his usual rhetoric when it comes to firing his corrupt ministers he states that he will not be pressurised by opposition to fire his minister based on false claims as if he never watched that live transmission and he has asked his appointee at Cabinet Office Simon Miti to deal with it….this is the man who fired Deputy IG Bonny Kapeso and his colleague last week without a full report ..there only crime was to be rough up lawless PF cadres at the same MOH Minister Chilufya’s last corruption case. I always tell GENUINE PF sympathisers that you need a new President ..can you imagine 5 years of this weak leader surrounded by the same thieves.
Just sue HoneyBee and MOH for gross negligence …what are you waiting for you have the paperwork from ZBA showing products were defective and proof that MSL distributed them to clinics. La7y Lungu will not fire his campaign ATM Chilufya.
Only inept characters will continue to hip blame on one man the head of state. Very soon we will hear the head of state being blamed for pregnant pupils in schools. Let us be serious people. It is being extremely lazy and miopic to only sing one song of blaming everything on one manWhat we need are functional institutions set up by the act of parliament to give teeth to organs such as the ACC. They should not end at just writing reports, they have the evidence, they should have the muscle to take those culprits they find in their audits to court otherwise we will give the job to the Tarinos of this world to just talk about the head of state. We all know that there are three arms of Governance, the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary, others argue that the media is the fourth…