Mon, 02 Oct 2017 11:35:42 +0000
By OSCAR MALIPENGA
PETITION by sixty-four members of parliament to the Speaker of the National Assembly Dr Patrick Matibini to appoint a committee that will investigate the procurement of 42 fire tenders at $42 million is misplaced, sheer waste of time and resources, leader of Patriotic Front (PF) Copperbelt members of Parliament Alexander Chiteme has charged.
And Mr Chiteme has distanced himself and all PF Copperbelt members of Parliament from the petition.
Mr Chiteme, who is also a member of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), was reacting to sixty-four members of parliament who have petitioned Dr Matibini to appoint a committee that will help investigate the procurement of 42 fire tenders at $42 million.
The petitioners include all UPND and some independent members of Parliament.
Mr Chiteme told the Daily Nation in an interview that the fire tender deal had gone through various security and investigate wings of the government including the Zambia Public Procurement Authority (ZPPA) and foreign courts.
“I do not see any possible solution…whatever they want to archive will come from a committee constituted by the Speaker.
“It will be waste of resources and at the same waste of time to think that they are going to get anything from petitioning the Speaker,” he said.
Mr Chiteme said the petitioners should not have petitioned the Speaker to constitute a committee to probe the fire tenders.
“What powers will that committee have? What they should be doing is to petition the ZPPA because it is the body that was enacted by Parliament to probe all government purchases.
“We as members of Parliament constituted the ZPPA so why shouldn’t we probe the ZPPA why are they going to the Speaker? Whom are they going to probe? The committee is going to probe who?” Mr Chiteme said.
He said UPND MPs should instead go to ZPPA because it was the oversight body that was set up by Parliament to look into the purchases of government.
“I think they are just wasting their time and they will not archive desired results and our members are not part of the petition,” Mr Chiteme said.
