Patriots for Economic Progress (PeP) president Sean Tembo and his team today conducted a peaceful protest against the procurement of 42 fire tenders at the cost of $42 million dollars by government.
Tembo and his team marched from Levy Mall to the Ministry of Local Government and Housing, carrying placards with messages like “Abash cowardice”, “viva fire tender investigation”, and “wake up Zambia its our money” among others.
Addressing journalists outside the ministry shortly after the march, Tembo said he would next week present a petition to President Edgar Lungu demanding for a forensic investigation audit on the fire tender acquisition.
Tembo alleged that there was possible corruption that motivated the acquisition of the fire trucks.
“We are not interested in a commission of inquiry, we are not interested in a parliamentary committee, we are not interested in an investigation by the Anti-Corruption Commission or any other government agency we are just interested in an independent forensic audit and we are in the process of preparing a petition which we are going to present to President Lungu sometime next week. We are going to demand that an important forensic investigation is done in this matter so that every person who is accountable, every person who unduly benefited from this fire tender should be held accountable. Those who committed administrative errors such as making foolish decisions need to be either dismissed from service or they need to be demoted. Those who committed criminal acts need to be prosecuted accordingly. That is the reason why we are here ladies and gentlemen,” Tembo said.
He said Zambians did not get value for their money in the fire tender deal.
“For example Indeni Oil Refinery bought fire tenders, brand new last year in March from Italy at a cost of $350 thousand each, when you look at the fire tenders that Indeni bought and you compare the fire tenders that Ministry of Local Government bought, the fire tenders that Ministry of Local Government bought looks like total scrap. So we believe that we did not get our value for money in this particular transaction and therefore we are not happy, and since we are not happy, we have decided to demonstrate as we are doing at the moment,” said Tembo.
Picture by Tenson Mkhala
3 responses
viva Mr Tembo for defending us .the cowardice majority are just watching .Zambians are simply lost soul with no shame on them
VIVA PeP! Yes! Truly there is a possibility of Corruption.The so called Fire Professionals have been trying to cover up the 42 Fire Trucks Saga at the expense of the Zambian people.The Purchasing of the Fire Trucks is NOT a bad idea, BUT our concern is the EXORBITANT PRICE that was spent. Surely how can a Third Part Company with no knowledge about Fire Trucks be awarded a Tender leaving out the Manufacturers who actually offered cheaper PRICE? You Fire Professionals, stop justifying the impossibles and accept to be used by some crooks in government.Stop lying the masses about the specifications of the Fire Tenders. However, the specifications were changed two (2) times.I know the evaluations were done in Chongwe.Let an independent entity fully investigate and establish what really happened. What criteria they used to award Grand View. Below is the list of the 16 Bidders;
ONB No.MLGH/G/4/15 – PROCUREMENT OF 42 FIRE TENDERS
No. BIDDER BID PRICE
1 SINO UNIZAM USD.9,870,300.00
2 SAVENDA MGT SERVICES LTD USD.19,919,781.00
3 ALBION EXPORT SERVICES LTD USD.49,560,000.00
4 VISHA SUPPLIER ZMK.38,411,963.94
5 BUK TRUCK PARTS EUR.14,052,444.00
6 HAB INTERNATIONAL EUR.12,799,500.00
7 IVECO S.A PTY LTD USD.23,499,000.00
8 NAFFCO USD.14,948,200.00
9 ICONIC EUR.12,726,000.00
10 HANDYMANS PARADISE EUR.21,630,546.00
11 AUTO CARE LTD USD.6,333,600.00
12 AUTO MART LTD EUR.18,318,720.00
13 EN3.CO. LTD USD.13,986,000.00
14 ZIEGLER GMBH EUR.14,695,800.00
15 FIRE RAIDERS PTY LTD EUR.18,624,912.60
16 GRAND VIEW INTERNATIONAL USD.42,000,000.00
Please protest over the sale of NRDC land and Chimbokaila land as well.