SUPPLIERS THREATEN TO SUE SERENJE AGRO DEALERS
Give Bwacha CDF projects to Kabwe contractors only – MP
By NATION REPORTER ONLY Kabwe-based companies will be awarded contracts under Bwacha Constituency Development Fund (CDF) projects as a way to empower local contractors and create jobs in the district, area Member of Parliament (MP) Sydney Mushanga said yesterday.
Mr Mushanga, who is Central Province Minister, said the CDF projects were intended to create jobs for residents of Kabwe by awarding the contracts to local contractors.
Seven CDF projects to cost K683, 468 have been approved for Bwacha constituency. So far K700, 000 has been released by the central government.
"Contractors for the approved Bwacha CDF projects will come from Kabwe because at the end of the day these projects are meant to benefit .abwe residents," SUPPLIERS of farming inputs have threatened to sue agro dealers in Serenje for failing to pay for items supplied to them during the 2017/2018, Member of Parliament Maxwell Kabanda has disclosed.
Mr Kabanda told the Daily Nation that some suppliers were threatening to take agro dealers in his constituency to court for failing to pay for the agro inputs supplied to farmers during the last farming season.
Mr Kabanda said due to the challenges most farmers experienced with the e-voucher system, government had advised agro dealers to give farmers in the constituency Mr Mushanga said.
He said the procurement process would start with the Kabwe Municipal Council placing an advert in the media for construction companies to express interest through submission of applications.
The jobs to be created through the projects would be open to all Kabwe residents and not only to those from Bwacha constituency, he said
Mr Mushanga has since appealed to contractors who would be awarded the contracts to ensure that labour was sourced from within Kabwe in order to create employment in the district.
"I am appealing to contractors that would be selected to employ the local people in areas where the projects will be taking place," said Mushanga. inputs on credit to enable them to plant.
“During the 2017/2018 farming season we had issues of delayed activation of e-voucher cards. We had asked the agro dealers to assist the farmers because time was running out into the planting season but up to now the agro dealers have not been paid,” he said.
Mr Kabanda explained that because of the delayed payments, the agro dealers, were unable to pay the suppliers who were now threatening to take legal action against them.
An agro dealer, Colonel Simon .a]embe, confirmed the development, saying he was among those threatened with legal action by Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia (NCZ) and another fertilizer company YARA.
Col Kazembe who explained that the suppliers were demanding to be paid failure to which they would sue the agro dealers, urged the government to pay them so that they could pay the suppliers. “We are appealing to government to pay as for the farming inputs we gave the farmers so that we can pay the suppliers. We have also lost out because we invested all our money and we are failing to manage our farmers, right now l have laid off two workers because l cannot pay them,” Col Kazembe said.
Another agro dealer, a Mr Luanga explained that Omnia fertiliser had threatened to sue him on two occasions if he failed to pay, adding that he and other agro dealers were forced to approach Mr Kabanda over the matter.
And Mr Kabanda explained that he spoke to the Minister of Agriculture Michael Katambo who assured him that government was doing everything possible to facilitate the release of the money and that it was not only Serenje agro dealers who had not been paid.