• It is a shocking revelation that there was a scheme to deliberately defraud government.
• Those people who were involved in schemes to deliberately defraud government are criminals.
• Sanctions should be extended to government officials who colluded with these people to defraud.

Zambia Association of Citizen Contractors (ZACCO) says it fully supports government’s decision to blacklist contractors and suppliers who participated in a scheme to deliberately defraud the country.
Speaking in an interview with Money FM News, Association General Secretary Danny Simumba said the contractors and suppliers involved should be regarded as criminals because genuine contractors are involved in lawful businesses.
Mr. Simumba stated that anyone who decides to intentionally defraud government cease to be a contractor, hence their actions are criminal in nature.
“It is a shocking revelation that there was a scheme to deliberately defraud government through construction contracts and other contracts for supply of goods and services, more shocking that this was a sustained culture of collusion between government officials, private companies and individuals.”
“Those people who were involved in schemes to deliberately defraud government are criminals because the moment you decide intentionally to defraud government then you cease to be a contractor, you become a criminal and whatever you are doing under that scheme is criminal in nature and as such, you have to be treated like that,” Mr. Simumba said.
He urged government to extend the sanctions to government officials who colluded with the contractors and suppliers to defraud.
“Those people who were involved in those schemes should not be regarded as contractors but as criminals and the decision by government to blacklist such is a wise one and we fully support that decision, and we believe that the sanctions should be extended to those government officials who colluded with these people to defraud,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Minister of Infrastructure and Urban Development Charles Milupi said Contractors and suppliers that will be struck off the list of Companies on public projects are those who got money and did not undertake the work or did substandard work.
Engineer Milupi said government’s decision to blacklist such contractors is not a strategy to unjustifiably victimize Zambian-owned businesses, noting that there are a lot of roads where the work was substandard and the people who are suffering are the citizens.
“Everyone who will be blacklisted, there will be a reason why. People that would have done something that is obviously wrong, they got money and didn’t undertake the work or work that was substandard, are the ones who will be blacklisted. We have a lot of roads where the work was so poor and the people who are suffering for that are the citizens.”
“We are therefore, through this blacklisting, protecting the citizens and the communities from future wrongs being done by these same people. This is why we are serious with the three parameters; right price, right quality, and specified time-frame. People who have failed to do that, they have lost the country a lot of money,” he said.
Recently, President Hakainde Hichilema announced that all contractors and suppliers who participated in a scheme to deliberately defraud the country will be blacklisted and barred from conducting any business with government.
He said the country has in the recent past been routinely looted through a sustained culture of collusion between government officials and private sector individuals and companies under the Patriotic Front government.