Chikwawa council suspends procurement officer for funds’ misappropriation

Chikwawa District stakeholders meeting sitting at the council’s chamber hall on Tuesday agreed to suspend the district council’s Procurement Officer on suspicion of corruption and underperformance.

The council’s chairperson, councilor Dyson Manjolo said at the end of the meeting  that the suspension is with immediate effect and the officer, Thomson Wansambo, will be called back for duties when the mist is cleared.

In 2017/2018 financial year, about K120 million which was allocated for the District Development Fund (DDF) was used but all projects are still incomplete.

“The malpractices involve the inflating figures of buying construction materials such as cement with an aim to rob the council,” said councilor Manjolo.

He added that the council officials were now tired with the conduct of the officer when discharging his duties in the past two years.

“Various projects remain incomplete yet government has been allocating funds in time for their implementation,” Manjolo said.

He added that the council is in the process of forming a committee to probe the matter although there were some calls for immediate posting of the officer.

Councilors and chiefs including Traditional Authority Mulilima further blamed the Procurement Officer of ballooning figures of purchasing construction materials where for example bags of cement appeared to be bought at K10, 000 each yet no shop in the district sold bags of cement at that amount.

When contacted, Thomson Wansambo denied all corruption allegations.

“As an officer, all I do is to discharge my duties with professionalism. I think the decision to suspend me is a politically motivated,” Wansambo said.

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