National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA) Director General Yollard Kachinda says the authority has asked five of its directors to step aside so that it can ascertain if its code of ethics were not breached in their involvement with the Baobab land scam.

In a statement, Tuesday, Kachinda stated that NAPSA wanted to clarify some misinformation which was in public domain.

“The Authority maintains an open door policy with various stakeholders including the media. The Authority is therefore taken aback by the recent trend of some media houses publishing unsubstantiated reports without seeking prior clarification on matters of public interest. This unfortunately casts aspersions on the operations of the Authority. In this regard, we would like to provide some clarity on the recent media reports regarding the ‘Baobab’ land along Kafue
road. The National Pension Scheme Authority received a proposal to purchase Baobab land from a registered owner. This proposal was presented to the Board for consideration in line with our investment guidelines. The Board in November 2018 guided against proceeding with the transaction citing a pending court action. With that guidance, NAPSA did not proceed with the transaction,” stated Kachinda.

“Recently, five of our directors were offered to buy pieces of the stated land, but as you may be aware, this matter ended up with the police who are investigating the transaction as a private matter involving the directors in their individual capacities. However, in the spirit of transparency and accountability, the Authority has asked the five directors involved to step aside in the interim to allow us carry out our investigations to ascertain that our code of ethics was not breached. We would like to reiterate our commitment to continue operating in the best interest of our members.”