Posts in category: Uncategorized

 PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema has addressed Parliament with a call on Members of Parliament to work with government in the fight against corruption. The Head of State has emphasised that there will be no scared cows when it comes to ensuring that corruption is fougt at every level. He said this can be seen with strides […]

 THE Kitwe High Court has heard that murder accused Annie Monta stopped her security guards from using her Range Rover to ferry Kitwe businessman Richard Mbulu a.k.a Chile One to the hospital after she allegedly shot him. On Thursday, Monta made another court appearance in a case where she is accused of murdering her husband […]

By NATION REPORTER

BRIAN Mundubile has challenged government to state at what stage money was lost on contracts because it is mandatory that a consultant who is engaged by government should sign an Interim payment Certificate (IPC).

Mr Mundubile, the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament said that he was one of the people who was a beneficiary and that the standard practice of contractual obligations often protected the loss of money in a contract.

Mr Mundubile, the Patriotic Front (PF) president candidate and Mporokoso Member of Parliament wondered if at all any of the consultants in the said cancelled contracts had been taken to court for signing an IPC for breaching contractual obligations.

Responding to allegations by UPND Mazabuka Member of Parliament Garry Nkombo that a total of 240 feeder contracts covering a total of 9436 were signed with most having received payment despite not doing any work, Mr Mundubile government was obliged to demand advance bond payment if contractual obligations were breached.

Rising on a point of order, Mr Mundubile said in an event that part of the money was paid to the contractor, it was envisaged that government should demand for an advance payment bond if the contractor defaulted.

He said having a contract in Zambia was not a crime and that he had been in business for the last 20 years owning two companies and was a member of Omni and Buildtrust.

“I want to know if there has been any consultant that has been taken to court for signing an IPC without the contractor executing his duties,” Mr Mundubile said.

Mr Mundubile said there was too much deception by Mr Nkombo and challenged the Local Government Minister to give details at which point government had lost money.

But Mr Nkombo challenged Mr Mundubile to declare interest because he was closely related to the matter.

Tempers had to be regulated as Mr Mundubile curtly challenged Mr Nkombo over government’s decision to cancel 197 feeder roads contract due to unprofessionalism.

Mr Nkombo claimed in Parliament that a total cost of the 240 contracts was K12.9 13 billion which he claimed was later discovered that the prices of the feeder roads was highly inflated.

“What we discovered is that the contracts were highly inflated and that most people that got the money actually did shoddy works,” he said.

Mr Nkombo said that the new dawn was forced to terminate the contracts because they were based on patronage.

Mr Nkombo said that government would not run away from paying all those contractors that had completed the work after the reconciliation was done.

He said that there was money that government lost just because of the shoddy works that were done by the contractors.

The practice of oil pulling is an ancient one, dating back 4,000 years in Ayurveda.

A pilot program in Utah that would have allowed thousands of patients to consume psychedelic mushrooms for therapeutic use failed to advance in the state Senate on Wednesday, effectively ending its chances of passage as lawmakers prepare to adjourn for the year next week.

The father of an 11-year-old Cambodian girl who died this week from bird flu has tested positive for the virus, health officials said on Friday.

By NATION REPORTER

GOVERNMENT leaders and UPND senior officials have been warned that they risk facing the wrath of the law should they continue engaging in corruption, gangsterism, militia mentality and disregard of the rule of law.

Information and Media Minister Chushi Kasanda has revealed that there are some government and UPND senior officials who are using the police and are engaging in corruption and other illegalities in total disregard of the rule of law.

Ms Kasanda, has stated in no uncertain terms that the UPND senior officials and government functionaries who would be found wanting shall not be protected but shall face the full wrath of the law.

She said the government and UPND officials perpetrating corruption and other illegalities were on their own, warning that law enforcement officers failing to take action against perpetrators of illegalities on account of their political affiliation, would be treated as accomplices and shall face corresponding consequences.

She said government was extremely disappointed that vices, including illegal land acquisition and allocation, illegal harvesting and transportation of Mukula tree and illegal mining and selling of minerals such as gold, lithium and sugilite, were taking place with the blessing of some government and UPND senior officials.

“This is totally unacceptable under the new dawn administration, presided over by President Hakainde Hichilema, and must be stopped immediately. Government is fully aware of the schemes being used to keep the law enforcement agencies in abeyance. Lawless individuals are misusing the name of the ruling party, and names of some senior party and government officials, as being the ones under whose instructions they are committing the illegalities,” Ms Kasanda said.

She said this government, under the leadership of President Hichilema would like to make it abundantly clear that gangsterism, militia mentality and disregard of the rule of law has no place in the current political dispensation.

“President Hichilema is on record saying that the UPND administration will never condone corruption or any other illegality, no matter who the perpetuators are. Equality the rule of law shall continue to be the hallmark of the UPND administration under the leadership of President Hichilema,” she said.

“The issue is that for these types of individuals, unfortunately, if you can’t see the injury, you can’t document it well and then you have less evidence for these victims in court,” Katherine Scafide, the study’s lead researcher, said.

Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered two ways to preserve diseased upper motor neurons that would normally be destroyed in ALS, based on a study in mice. Upper motor neurons initiate movement, and they degenerate in ALS.

 A BLACK lacy lingerie was yesterday part of evidence in a case renowned actor Leo Simukoko is accused of indecently assaulting a laboratory scientist. The victim narrated how on the material day, the accused allegedly kissed her and tried to remove her sweat pants. The court heard that the 36-year-old victim, who was at the […]