‘Fishy’ tricycle deal puzzles minister
By ADRIAN MWANZA
GOVERNMENT is baffled that over 1500 tricycles were supplied to the Ministry of Health and delivered to three provinces when the contract was cancelled and not paid for.
Minister of Health Sylvia Masebo says she can not understand how anyone can deliver goods to fulfil a cancelled contract which was not even paid for.
Ms Masebo told the Daily Nation in an interview, over 1500 Tricycles were supplied to three provinces even after the contract was annulled by government for not meeting the required standards.
Ms Masebo said the tricycles had been dumped in Petauke, Luapula and even Kasama for almost a year without the owners coming to get them since government had not paid.
She said it was strange that the tricycles were delivered without government making any form of payment and suggested that a payment was indeed made hence the laisser-faire attitude by the suppliers.
She said the Attorney General refused to append his signature on the contract government had with Barakatel Investments Ltd which was told to supply the items.
Ms Masebo said that she would report the matter to the investigative wings to ascertain what really transpired because it was not making sense that the company did not come to collect the 1500 tricycles that were dumped in the three provinces.
“I will report this matter to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) because there are so many questions that need to be answered. There is no way that they can leave the items to wear out for a year,’’ she said.
She said the other factor was that the company gave them 29 tricycles as a gift but that they vanished without being accounted for.
Ms Masebo said she smelt a rat in the whole deal and that she was hoping that the ACC and other investigative wings would get to the bottom of the matter.
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