Axe shady contractors - NGO

By BENNIE MUNDANDO ZAMBIAN contractors who have continued to do shoddy works and sometimes abandon projects after they are paid by Government must be deregistered to serve as a deterrence to would-be offenders because we cannot afford to be wasting national resources on people who are not serious, the Gallant Youths in Zambia (GYZ) have observed.

Executive director Henry Mulenga yesterday told the Daily Nation that it was sad that colossal amounts of money meant for infrastructure development in the country was going to waste owing to a jaded mind-set among some local contractors who had continued to do shoddy jobs or abandoning works thereby painting a bad picture over the capability of local companies to deliver.

Mr. Mulenga said time to stamp out the scourge among local companies had come and that the only solution to ending that truancy and lack of seriousness was either by blacklisting all erring local companies or de-registering them when they fail to deliver.

He noted that for a long time now, local companies had been complaining of not being awarded capital projects by Government as foreign companies were given preference over such mega contracts without realising that there have been some “bad eggs” among themselves who had a laissez-faire attitude towards Government contracts and had been failing to deliver either inadvertently or on purpose because no punitive measures had been taken against that.

“There is a growing trend by most Zambian contractors who have continued abandoning works for certain contracts awarded to them by Government and this has been going on unabated for a long time. This makes sad reading in the sense that it is taxpayers and cooperating partners’ money being spent and therefore there is more demand for accountability, thereby bringing Government into ridicule when works are not completed.

“There is need to stiffen punishment so that those found wanting are either blacklisted or be de-registered so that this acts as a deterrent measure to wouldbe offenders because leaving such a scandal unchecked would mean that we are giving room to a lot of Zambian contractors to go scot-free even after doing shoddy works or abandoning projects completely after getting money meant for such,” Mr. Mulenga said.

He called upon Zambians not to leave the watchdog task to Government alone over infrastructure development in the country but stand up and demand for accountability from those who are paid to provide a service.

“Every Kwacha that goes into construction should be well-accounted for because these are public funds and we must all demand for total accountability. It would be naive for any logical Zambian to remain silent when these non-performing companies keep getting contracts which they don’t fulfil at the expense of credible ones which can do credible works.

“For a long time now, most Zambian contractors have been crying for recognition over capital projects awarded by Government but it is because of lack of faithfulness among them that we have started doubting their capabilities. If they want to be given preference, they must also demonstrate sincerity. We need sanity in the sector,” he said.