22 February 2022
| The day’s business in the House began with a Ministerial Statement from the Minister of Health, Hon. Sylvia Masebo, MP. The issue was rising from the urgent matter of importance concerning the dispatching of expired medicine in Kabwe by ZAMMSA. The Minister’s response was as follows: a) The matter in which Honeybee supplied expired drugs and medical kits is currently in court and investigations are being done, hence the medical supplies haven’t been disposed off from the quarantine by ZAMMSA. b) The distribution of expired medicine to Kabwe Central Hospital and Kasama was attributed to human failure and a low level of competence from the staff at ZAMMSA. On 27th, December 2021, an annual stock-taking occurred. Preliminary investigations were done and it was revealed that it was during the stocktaking that the expired medicine in question was changed from quality control status to available status and was made available for shipment to the two hospitals affected on 12th January 2022. c) All the 198 bottles of paracetamol issued to Kabwe Central Hospital were returned while 4 bottles out of the 58 bottles issued to Kasama General hospital were consumed. d) Two of the citizens that consumed the paracetamol Kasama were traced and are under observation while the remaining two have not yet been found. However, the Speaker deliberated that the issue be left to avoid compromising investigations as it is currently in court and that the Minister of Health would update the House when the matter is concluded. |
23 February 2022
| During the parliamentary business on this day, there was a ministerial statement from the Minister of Water Development and Sanitation concerning the advert that run in the Zambia Daily Mail Newspaper where a contract to procure and supply water meters was awarded to a company. The figures listed in the Advert did not match the price of the water meters and the Minister clarified that the officer from the ministry wrongly sent the figures to Zambia Daily Mail when running the advert. The minister further said that the mistake was acknowledged and the earlier advert was cancelled and a new advert is running in the paper. The minister said that the ministry received submissions from the water utility company on the specifications of the water meters to be purchased. This response came from a question asked by the opposition MP for Pambashe, Ronald Chitotela. Leader of the opposition, Brian Mundubile raised a serious point of order stating that Ministers should take questions asked by MPs in the House seriously and provide responses that will give the people of Zambia a clear understanding of the issues of development. In another matter, The Minister of Justice, Mulambo Haimbe gave a ministerial statement following the debate among citizens concerning the law on bigamy. In his statement, Hon Mulambo Haimbe has clarified that the recommendations put forward by the Zambia Law Development Commission (ZLDC) to repeal bigamy in Zambia, is to avoid duplicity of offences in the Statute Book. |
24 February 2022
| QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER (STANDING ORDER 74) Question 206. MP for Chienge Constituency, Ms Katuta asked the following questions to the Minister of Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development: When the construction of a police station at Mununga in Chienge District will be completed; and what is the cause of the delay in completing the project is. In response to question 206, the minister indicated that the project began in 2016, and the delay to complete the project is due to financial constraints because more than K1 million was needed to be completed. The Minister further advised that the current CDF can be used to complete the stalled police station. The MP for Kafue asked the Minister what facilities the police station has to cost K3.8 million. The minister responded that the contracts and projects were grossly overvalued in the past government. He further said that the current government is working to bring the costs down. The MP for Chienge asked that Minister through the Speaker to cancel the contract because the stalled police station in question cannot be valued at K3.8 million or the K1 million needed to complete the construction. The minister responded that he would take into consideration cancelling the contract and use CDF to complete the project. The MP for Roan Constituency asked the Minister if there was any interest incurred due to the delay in the completion of the project. The Minister responded that there are interests and penalties because the contract has taken too long to be completed and attributed this to wasteful expenditure. The Speaker announced that there will be a meeting between the President and the MPs on 1st March 2022. |
25 February 2022
| VICE-PRESIDENT’S QUESTION TIME MP for Zambezi Constituency, Brian Kambita asked the Vice-President how far the government has gone in recovering assets from officials in the previous regime believed to be proceeds of crime. The Vice-President responded that the cases were active in court and some of the evidence has indeed shown that some assets were acquired through proceeds of crime and those found wanting are getting prosecuted. She added that she cannot give further comment as the cases are still in court. QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER (STANDING ORDER 74) Question 221 Mr Kolala (Lufubu) asked the Minister of Health the following questions: (a) Whether the Government is aware of the critical shortage of drugs in health facilities in Lufubu District; and (b) If so, what measures the Government is taking to ensure that the health facilities are supplied with adequate drugs. The minister responded that most medical facilities had medicines and highlighted the following measures: The procurement of medicines will be moved to ZAMMSA from the Ministry of Health HQ and a new board has been constituted. The budget has been increased from K1.3 billion to K3.4 billion. K17 million has been released for emergency procurement of medical supplies. Question 225 MP for Mkaika constituency asked the Minister of Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development why the contract for the stalled Katete police station was terminated and when the project would be completed. The minister responded that the project stalled because the contract was terminated. This was due to the revised scope of work which include houses and other facilities that were not included in the contract. The minister further said that the ministry would liaise with the client which is the Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Affairs and that K500,000 has already been spent on the project with progress standing at 13%. The MP for Mkaika asked if the Constituency can use CDF to complete the project. The Minister agreed and advised that the MP use CDF to complete the project. |