KABWE Central PF member of parliament Tutwa Ngulube says the Zambia Bureau of Standards did not properly test Honeybee-supplied condoms and gloves, arguing that you cannot only test one and conclude everything else is defective.

And Ngulube has challenged people alleging there is corruption in government to take evidence to the Anti- Corruption Commission.

Speaking during a phone-in programme on Capital FM radio, Monday, Ngulube said the accusations against Honeybee were untrue.

“We wrote a letter to the News Diggers, we wrote letters to ZABS. Our clients wrote letters complaining that how do you conclude that Honeybee supplied defective condoms? Honeybee supplied to Medical Stores, Medical Stores issued a certificate confirming that the tests had been done and everything was okay. And all the products supplied met the requirements, then from nowhere somebody just pops up and says ‘Honeybee supplied defective condoms’? Even the people that certified now wake up and start singing the same chorus. So we wrote to them saying you are the same people that certified these products. Also what we know is that ZABS cannot start conducting tests contrary to what the World Health Organization have set up,” Ngulube said.

“ZABS tested one condom and one glove, the manufacturers tested 200 gloves and we have these reports. Because they tested one sample of one kit, then everything else is defective? Even when you are taking your maize to the Food Reserve Agency they will weigh your maize, they will check the moisture, they will not just check one bag. If you have brought 1,000 bags they will check at random, 50 bags. You don’t pick one grain and one bag. So the integrity of ZABS has been challenged by four international laboratories and that is why we are saying can ZABS confirm what they did. As far as these four international laboratories who are accredited to WHO are saying the tests that were used by ZABS were wrong, the test method was wrong. ZABS should probably check themselves. That is why people are thinking that by writing to ZABS we are saying they should not have done the tests, no we are saying that it was wrong for them to conclude because they wrongly tested.”

He said could not abandon his clients because of public perception.

“The Honeybee issue is not a PF matter, it is a commercial matter. I have been in this business of defending clients for 15 years now. So someone can’t say because you are a member of parliament for PF, you should stop being a lawyer, pack your bags, let your children suffer, let them not go to school. Is that how we are going to operate? No. The hatred that people have, if they hate Honeybee, as a lawyer I have nothing to do with that hatred. My job is to represent my client,” he said.

“So far, the information that we have all, the accusations on Honeybee, is that most of it were just hoaxes. Those people who alleged there were expired drugs, there was no such a thing but the public believed that there were expired drugs. People said there were defective condoms, others said there were leaking condoms. There is nothing in the ZABS report to prove what those people are saying. My being PF or MP has nothing to do with my career. I have power within my mind to decide which issue is moral or which issue is professional. I cannot run away from a client because of public perception.”

And Ngulube said there were more than enough security agencies in Zambia which could probe corruption.

“I think you are aware that the opposition has been championing this cry about corruption for a very long time without evidence and Zambians have been willing to receive such reports, the Anti-Corruption Commission has been willing to prosecute people, people don’t go with evidence they just say ‘there is a rise of corruption in Zambia.’ And the majority of people who wake up to make such accusations have never been to the ACC before. They must have a reference point. So those that have evidence of corruption, we challenge them to produce it, bring it forward, take it to the ACC, police or Drug Enforcement Commission. We have more than enough security agencies that can probe corruption,” said Ngulube.