THE speed camera contract between Intelligent Mobility Solutions (IMS) and the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) has remained terminated following alleged illegalities in the awarding and execution of the tender, sources have told News Diggers!

And IMS representative, Walid El Nahas has confirmed that all speed cameras have since been uprooted from various locations, pending discussions with government authorities.

Minister of Transport and Communications Mutotwe Kafwaya said the contract was moved from his portfolio and transferred to the Ministry of Finance.

In an interview, Nahas said there were management meetings underway regarding the matter.

“Right now, we are in the process of management meetings. So, honestly, I can’t really comment. The speed cameras, yes, they have been removed,” Nahas said.

Asked if the contract was ongoing, Nahas referred this reporter to the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA).

“I believe the best position for you is to speak to the government about this. Please speak to RTSA about it. They will be able to give a better position on that,” said Nahas.

And Kafwaya said he did not know the current status of the contract because it moved to the Ministry of Finance.

“That contract moved from my Ministry to the Ministry of Finance because there was a financing issue in there; I may not have full details of the current status,” said Kafwaya.

But RTSA head of public relations Fred Mubanga said that members of the public would be notified in due course on the concession agreement.

“The concession agreement between IMS and the Government of the Republic of Zambia on the provisions of advanced road safety management solutions is under consideration by the Public Private Partnership (PPP) and once this is concluded, the public will be communicated to accordingly. What is of importance to note is that this concession agreement is under review and it is being tabled for consideration. This is a matter that is of concern and if anything has to change or there is any development, it has to be communicated to the public accordingly. Any official communication regarding the implementation of this particular concession agreement, of course, will be communicated to. Let us treat communication from the government’s position as one that is authentic. We are going to, of course, through either RTSA or relevant government wings, which is the Ministry of Finance, PPP Council, we are going to agree on how we are going to communicate to the public once this matter is concluded. The component of the speed cameras is just one, but among many other components that are in this particular agreement,” said Mubanga.

In October, 2019, the Auditor General’s report revealed that the Road Transport and Safety Agency deposited over K1.4 million collected from speeding motorists into an unauthorised ‘private’ bank account, where part of it went missing before it was deposited into a government Escrow account, following an inquiry.

The Auditor General also revealed that the said unauthorised account belonged to “Pay Now Zambia Ltd,” which had been active since May, 2016, before the IMS contract with RTSA was signed, further explaining that this was contrary to Financial Regulation No. 140 (1), which states that “under no circumstances shall public money be credited to a private bank account or used for personal purposes.”

And the Report disclosed that about 1,000 registered vehicles had no matching records at RTSA, while some vehicles captured as saloons by the Intelligence Mobility Solutions records were actually appearing as trucks on the RTSA vehicle registration system under ZAMTIS.