WE fully agree with President Edgar Lungu who is dismayed at seeing contractors abandon various projects in the country when all was in place and at times even money transferred to them.
President Lungu has indicated that he will part ways with Government officials and even contractors who would be found wanting in the audit of developmental projects countrywide.
We actually would like to go a step further by recommending prosecution to those who are pocketing money at the expense of national development.
Many a time have we heard or read that a contractor had abandoned a project even when money had been transacted and more annoying is when one gets to find that money has not been transferred despite it being available.
We remember a situation from 2015 when a Special Assistant for Project Implementation at State House revealed that about 46 Zambian contractors have abandoned their projects in Muchinga Province leaving just five working.
So it was no surprise that over the weekend, President Edgar Lungu went to the same Muchinga Province where he was again left disheartened with the levels of incomplete projects which go beyond the Province but the country as a whole as well.
It is inconceivable to note that some projects which are even done by up to 98 per cent could see the process of releasing the money to finish it up take more than a year. This laissez-faire attitude is not just unacceptable.
A country that is serious about development and looking to move forward and better lives of its citizens should not be made to go through such. In fact, it should not take State House to be involved in such matters.
The fact that the president gets involved means there is something very wrong going and needs to be brought to an immediate stop.
The President, while in Muchinga, cited the contractor working on the Chinsali-Mulilansolo Road and others working on various infrastructure projects in Chinsali District as having a sluggish attitude towards work.
This is just one area the president has cited, but the reality is that such bad tendencies are all over the country and make the Government look bad and uncommitted to delivering promised development.
We now wonder what teeth the National Council for Construction (NCC) has regarding such behaviour and how such contractors even get to be awarded projects that hinge of national development.
“This year, 2018, I will be doing snap checks and audits of all the works we promised to do and I want convincing reasons why they are not being done. So let it be a warning to all of you who are charged with these projects,” he said.
You have been warned.
It is good that the president in his Muchinga Province tour at some point opted to take the trip from Chinsali to Mulilansolo by road, where the bumpy state of the road meant that a 60km stretch that can take just about 30-40 minutes took him well more than more than an hour.
This will give the President the everyday feel of the people who use that road and understand their cry to have the project completed in the shortest possible time.