By NATION REPORTER
AN attempt by officials from the Ministry of Technology and Science to hoodwink the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) into accepting delays by some suppliers for some construction projects by furnishing them with “fake” exculpatory letters was yesterday thwarted by the committee.
Committee members found that the letters which were purported to have come from different contractors were similar in many ways, an indication that they were written by the same person.
This was when Ministry of Technology and Science officials, led by Permanent Secretary, Brilliant Habeenzu, appeared before the committee to answer queries for the defunct Ministry of Higher Education arising from the 2020 Auditor General’s report.
The Ministry of Higher Education engaged 10 suppliers for a contract sum of US$10, 631, 846 to supply, deliver, instal, commission and train key staff on the use of the equipment for 18 training institutions.
Although the suppliers had delivered various equipment worth US$10, 187, 739 between July 2020 and October 2020 in Lusaka, equipment worth US$4, 895, 288 from eight suppliers had not been delivered to the trade institutions.
The projects in question are now under the newly created Ministry of Technology and Science.
A member of PAC, Mr Victor Lumayi, who is Chavuma Member of Parliament, observed that the sentences in three letters from different contractors which were submitted for scrutiny were structured in the same way and everything else in the main body of the letters appeared the same.
Mr Lumayi said the letters were “fake,” saying there was no way letters written by suppliers in different countries could be the same with only the addresses differing.
PAC chairperson, Warren Mwambazi, who is Bwana Mukubwa MP and Mr Likando Mufalali, nominated MP also questioned the authenticity of the letters.
Another member of PAC, Mr Jonathan Daka, who is Chadiza MP questioned whether there was collusion between ministry officials and the suppliers.
“You have presented forged documents to convince the committee that the delay was because of Covid-19,” Mr Mufalali said.
When queried about the alleged forged letters, Mr Habeenzu said “I apologise, yes these look fake and I’m equally disturbed. I have to investigate further to ascertain what happened.”
Mr Mwambazi, who allayed efforts by some directors to chip in and explain the “fake” letters, threatened to subpoena the suppliers in question.
“They will expose some of you if we bring them here,” he said.
Mr Mwambazi urged Mr Habeenzu, to ensure that any illegal dealings were stopped.
Author
