By ROGERS KALERO
SCANDALS are emerging in some Constituency Development Fund (CDF) contracts with some organisations awarded contracts to supply desks, supplying sub-standards desks which they are delivering to schools in the evening without the knowledge of the office of the Member of Parliament (MP), councillors and other stakeholders
The suppliers of the desks are allegedly delivering the desks to schools in the night to school caretakers who cannot question the quality of desks who would later report to the head teacher about the delivery.
In cases where the head teacher of the school is present when delivering the desks, the head teacher has no authority to question the quality of the desks on the assumption that the MP, Councillor and the CDF Committee could have certified the desks.
Chimwemwe Ward Councillor Kelly Muwowo and his Twatasha Ward counterpart Felix Mwalumuna confirmed the supply of the sub-standard desks in some schools which were being delivered in the evening without informing the MP, Councillor and other stakeholders
While the Twatasha Ward Councillor could not say much before meeting the suppliers of the desks, his Chimwemwe Ward counterpart Kelly Muwowo said most of the desks which had been supplied to schools were of poor quality
Mr Muwowo, who is a carpenter, said the quality of the desks which were being supplied to schools were so poor that even a lay man with no knowledge could see the poor quality
“There is also the aspect of delivering the desks in schools in the evening. What is that? Delivering desks in secrecy without informing the office of the MP, the councillor and other stakeholders.
You wake up in the morning only to be informed of desks which were delivered at some school in the evening. When you go to check the desks, you find poor quality or sub-standard desks,’’ Mr Muwowo said
Last week, Chimwemwe MP, Allen Banda called for a thorough investigations into the purchase of poor-quality school desks by the Procurement Department of the Kitwe City Council (KCC) using CDF
Mr Banda said he was calling for a thorough probe into the purchase of the more than 300 desks which were not only of poor quality, but were also not durable and could easily be damaged within a short time
Mr Banda was speaking when he inspected the first batch of the 720 desks bought by the Procurement Department of the KCC for Chimwemwe Secondary School, Ishuko and Kampemba primary schools
Out of the 720 desks, 300 have already been delivered at Ishuko Primary School where the MP inspected them and expressed dissatisfaction and disappointment at the poor-quality desks which were bought using the CDF
