Anxiety grips contractors over cancelled contracts
… As contractors body ‘calms’ worried members
COMPANIES which were awarded contracts during the transition period should not worry if they were done in a transparent manner, the National Association for Medium and Small-Scale Contractors has said.
Recently, Government announced the cancellation of all contracts sealed after President Hakainde Hichilema was declared the winner in the August 12 general elections.
The association’s president, Mr Mutale Mpepo, said it was a normal procedure when there was a change of Government to cancel all contracts that were hurriedly awarded during the transition period.
Mr Mpepo’s remarks comes after some local contractors complained that their contracts were cancelled after having done half of the work.
In an interview, Mr Mpepo said there was need to give the new Government time to review the contracts awarded during the transition period.
He said if the contracts were done in a transparent manner, there was no need to get worried.
“It should not worry anyone because that is done to ensure that the contracts were done in the right way. Any contractor eligible should not be worried about that. If there is a change of government, it is a normal procedure
“You can only worry if you used wrong formulas to get the contracts, but if you won the contract in a transparent manner, there is no need to worry,” Mr Mpepo said.
He said for those that won the contract genuinely and delivered half of it, they should give the new government time to settle.
“It is just a temporally thing and everything will soon come to normal more especially that President Hakainde Hichilema has appointed his cabinet. Full operations will start soon. Let us just give them a bit of time,” Mr Mpepo said.