Fri, 09 Jun 2017 14:34:13 +0000
By Charles Musonda
CONVICT Silvia Masebo because her evidence either supports our case or does not attack the indictment, the State has asked the Lusaka Magistrates’ Court.
This is in a case where Masebo was found with a case to answer on one count of abuse of authority of office contrary to section 21 (1) of the Anti- Corruption Act number 3 of 2012. Her judgment comes on July 14, 2017 before Principal Resident Magistrate David Simusamba.
She was accused of arbitrarily cancelling the tender process for then Zambia Wildlife Authority hunting concession when she served as Minister of Tourism.
In the final submissions for the State, Acting Chief Legal and Prosecution Officer Boniface Chiwala said Masebo was neither the approvals authority nor the procurement officer.
“There is sufficient evidence adduced in court to show that the accused herein cancelled the tender process contrary to the requirements of the law. On 30th December 2012 the accused issued a press statement in which she directed ZAWA to cancel the tender process. This directive was contrary to the law and therefore an abuse of authority.
“In her defence she endeavored to demonstrate that the cancellation was done by government through her as minister of Tourism. This argument is not supported by any witness or evidence,” Mr. Chiwala said.
He said former republican vice president Guy Scott testified that he met Masebo and former Justice Minister Wynter Kabimba at Government House to discuss various actions her ministry was contemplating regarding hunting of big cats and the other subject was to defer or postpone the tender process.
“The witness was emphatic on the fact that the instruction given to the accused was to postpone or defer the tender process…clearly her press statement is talking about cancelling or nullifying the tender process. This was never the position of government.
“It follows therefore that the position taken by the accused cannot be true given the evidence of her own witness. At no time did Government decide to cancel the tender process and there is no evidence before court in support of that assertion,” Mr. Chiwala added.
He said there was also evidence that Masebo called senior ZAWA officers to her office to question them on the procurement process and this was wrong because the officers did not report to the minister but to the permanent secretary.
Mr. Chiwala said Masebo ignored fixed rules and procedures of the law but relied on individual discretion.
“All issues to do with procurement should have been dealt with through the permanent secretary who is vested with the power to deal with such issues and not the minister. The issue of the procurement process being riddled with irregularities and corruption did not in any way give the accused latitude to breach the law.”
