By NATION REPORTER
REVELATIONS that a cabinet Minister had solicited a bribe in the form of facilitation fees and a luxury car from TFM Holdings (pty) Ltd a company that was awarded a US$100 million contract to construct 7 by 150 beds space pre-fabricated hospitals is a warning that President Hakainde Hichilema and his ministers are not angels, Raphael Nakachinda has said.
Mr Nakachinda, the (Patriotic Front) chairperson said although the name of the Minister was not mentioned in the TFM US$100 million bribery scandal, Zambia had already concluded who the Cabinet Minister was and involved in the bribery scandal.
Mr Nakachinda said President Hakainde Hichilema had been pontificating of fighting corruption and that time had come for the Head of State to show that he abhorred graft by firing some of his ministers allegedly involved in corruption.
He said there had been allegations of grand corruption in the UPND government but President Hichilema had paid a deaf ear to the graft in his administration while pursuing former government ministers and other leaders from the previous administration.
Mr Nakachinda said President Hichilema should not pretend that he did not know the minister involved the TFM bribery scandal because the South African company had been awarded the contract to construct pre-fabricated hospitals by the Ministry of Health.
Mr Nakachinda who was the first to have blown the whistle of the US$100 million scandal which saw the dismissal of Dr George Magwende, the Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary for Administration said President Hichilema should realize that he had wrong people heading some of the critical ministries.
Yesterday, a South African company, TFM Holdings (pty) Ltd revealed that a Cabinet Minister had been soliciting for a bribe before it could get favourable consideration.
TFM Industries (pty) Ltd chairman Mcebisi Nlozi has revealed that the named Minister had been soliciting for bribes from the company in form of facilitation fees and a luxury motor vehicle after it had been awarded a US$100 million contract to construct pre-fabricated hospitals in Southern, Western and North-Western Provinces.
In a letter to a local business executive dated 15th May, 2022, Mr Nlozi claimed his company had been approached by representatives of the said Minister to arrange facilitation fees and a vehicle for the government official.
He had instead requested local business executive to place the soliciting of the facilitations fees and a motor vehicle for the named Minister on record in Zambia.
“We write to you to place on record that we have been approached by representatives of the Minister of Health to arrange facilitation fees and a vehicle for her. We are, for obvious reasons very uncomfortable with this and wish to task you to place this on record in Zambia, the letter reads.
