Tue, 07 Mar 2017 12:16:05 +0000
By BENNIE MUNDANDO
SOME top officials at the ministry of lands have been accused of having shared government money allocated for the titling exercise of properties in the Kamwala residential area.
The officials are reported to have instead contracted trainees to do the job at a pittance after they pocketed hefty allowances.
An impeccable source confirmed to Daily Nation that the money meant for checking on title status of structures in the Kamwala residential area was shared among the officials who did not carry out the exercise.
The source said instead officials contracted interns whom they paid meagre allowances on a weekly basis to do the job.
The source said the interns were receiving K85 per day and were paid weekly.
It was not clear where the money was coming from since the budgeted amount was ransacked by the same officials who were supposed to do the job.
The source said it was unfortunate that a clique of corrupt individuals was tarnishing the image of the ministry by engaging in all sorts of illegalities while supervisors watched the situation deteriorating without taking action to stop the rot.
The source said the syndicate was well-known within the ministry but added that innocent officers were living in fear of being transferred or losing their jobs and would rather remain silent than expose those involved.
The source said the Ministry of Lands had become one of the most corrupt ministries because culprits were being treated with kids gloves, adding that as a result it would be difficult to stamp out corruption at the ministry.
“Some officials got allowances for the titling programme in Kamwala but never did the job. They then decided to contract interns to do the job for them and these interns are getting K85 per day and are paid weekly,
“This is nothing compared to the money that was initially released for the exercise but the biggest question is: Where did this money come from since the allocation was already paid out?
“Unfortunately, these are issues which have been accepted as a norm in the ministry. People are stealing and no one seems to care about what is going on. This job was supposed to be done by the same officials but it has now been given to interns.
‘‘What guarantee do we have that they will do a good job? After the job is done, these same officials will claim that they were the ones who did the job, when in fact not,” the source said.
