By NATION REPORTER
BRIAN Mundubile has challenged government to state at what stage money was lost on contracts because it is mandatory that a consultant who is engaged by government should sign an Interim payment Certificate (IPC).
Mr Mundubile, the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament said that he was one of the people who was a beneficiary and that the standard practice of contractual obligations often protected the loss of money in a contract.
Mr Mundubile, the Patriotic Front (PF) president candidate and Mporokoso Member of Parliament wondered if at all any of the consultants in the said cancelled contracts had been taken to court for signing an IPC for breaching contractual obligations.
Responding to allegations by UPND Mazabuka Member of Parliament Garry Nkombo that a total of 240 feeder contracts covering a total of 9436 were signed with most having received payment despite not doing any work, Mr Mundubile government was obliged to demand advance bond payment if contractual obligations were breached.
Rising on a point of order, Mr Mundubile said in an event that part of the money was paid to the contractor, it was envisaged that government should demand for an advance payment bond if the contractor defaulted.
He said having a contract in Zambia was not a crime and that he had been in business for the last 20 years owning two companies and was a member of Omni and Buildtrust.
“I want to know if there has been any consultant that has been taken to court for signing an IPC without the contractor executing his duties,” Mr Mundubile said.
Mr Mundubile said there was too much deception by Mr Nkombo and challenged the Local Government Minister to give details at which point government had lost money.
But Mr Nkombo challenged Mr Mundubile to declare interest because he was closely related to the matter.
Tempers had to be regulated as Mr Mundubile curtly challenged Mr Nkombo over government’s decision to cancel 197 feeder roads contract due to unprofessionalism.
Mr Nkombo claimed in Parliament that a total cost of the 240 contracts was K12.9 13 billion which he claimed was later discovered that the prices of the feeder roads was highly inflated.
“What we discovered is that the contracts were highly inflated and that most people that got the money actually did shoddy works,” he said.
Mr Nkombo said that the new dawn was forced to terminate the contracts because they were based on patronage.
Mr Nkombo said that government would not run away from paying all those contractors that had completed the work after the reconciliation was done.
He said that there was money that government lost just because of the shoddy works that were done by the contractors.
