By SYCORAX TIYESA NDHLOVU-

Reverend Willie Nyendwa’s observations and letter to the editor on local contractors’ ‘twalya again’ attitude when they are offered contracts which appeared in Zambia Daily Mail of February 12, 2014, speaks volumes about why most local contractors do shoddy works.
What is also critical in such a revelation is that one can now understand why local contractors never improve and increase their professional capacities to upgrade themselves to international standards both theoretically and practically.
Such an attitude creates poverty on most contractors and on Zambians as such contractors might not be given other contracts in future, while communities won’t get enough of the much needed socio-economic infrastructure and services because government spends huge sums of money on the same projects which were poorly done in the past.
But ‘twalya again’ attitude is not isolated to local contractors alone.
Even local bricklayers, carpenters, mechanics, plumbers, among others, when they are given a reasonable contract; and paid a good sum of money as down payment, it is ‘twalya again’ syndrome. This syndrome is supported by showing off (zimya neighbour) attitude where friends, relatives and neighbours will know that someone has been paid (wabeula) a lot of money.
When some people have money, they want to show the whole world that one is ‘a force to reckon with’ in financial status.
For local contractors, such an attitude has negatively affected the quality of works on their contracts, forcing government to work on the same projects every year. Repetitive expenditure on the same project just because of shoddy works make both the local community where the project is located and the whole country poorer than ever before because huge sums of money are wasted on shoddy works every year.
But such an attitude also deprives one to equip oneself with necessary professional knowledge, equipment, experience and skills for more competitive capacity in bidding related contracts in the future.
Such contractors have little or nothing to add to their profile as value they can offer to any future bid.
Similarly, before getting a job, some youths have high Christian values and go to church regularly. But no sooner are some youths employed in a certain job than some start beer drinking and mobilising many girls friends which they could not manage before. This attitude is not isolated to male youths alone. Even some old men do the same.
Some female youths too do the same. And some old women also start mobilising some men to be close to them just because these women have now some money with which to attract men. When some people have money, they lose their wisdom and go hayway.
As a result, when some people are paid some money, they spend days, if not weeks, before they report for work from which the pay comes from. This is a negative attitude and destructive to work performance and national development processes.
It is from such a background that most local contractors (civil, electrical and mechanical engineers) haven’t upgraded their professional status in terms of practical and academic capacities to become a strong force in their respective fields.
To prove this point, Zambia imports tooth picks, shoe brushes, among other items, despite churning out engineers in various fields from University of Zambia (UNZA) and Copperbelt University (CBU) for many years now. This doesn’t mean that UNZA and CBU are producing half baked engineers but that when such graduates leave colleges and universities, they do little, if not nothing to improve on their theoretical and practical knowledge to respond favourably to societal needs and expectations in their respective fields.
Educated people should share with local communities their respective knowledge and solutions to issues affecting communities such as hygiene and sanitation, how eating habits affect one’s health, child nutrition, how gender equality affects family and national development, importance of local languages to families and to the nation, importance of citizen’s participation in democracy and development, etc.
But most of the so-called educated people do little or nothing to inform and educate local community members on some of such issues affecting societies today.
And because most local graduates are doing little, if not nothing about responding to the needs and expectations of our society, Zambia now is a dumping ground for cheap products including counterfeit ones.
As a result, a former diplomat, economics lecturer and experienced development practitioner, Robert Sinyikosa in his book argues that in Zambia, we are a nation of illiterates because most of the so-called graduates cannot prove beyond reasonable doubt that they are a force to reckon with in their respective areas.
From such situations, CBU vice chancellor Naison Ngoma said the university is planning to recruit doctor of philosophy (PhD) engineers from Ethiopia because Addis Ababa University is one of the institutions in African with many PhD holder engineering lecturers (The Post: 15/2/2014; p.7).
It appears while other people and countries like Ethiopia are improving themselves, we are busy with ‘twalya again’ attitude with the little money we come across.
And Chanda Mwanakatwe in Chililabombwe district said the problem with our local engineers is that they like being in suits like accountants,
marketing managers or even purchasing managers. He said it is rare to see a Zambian engineer in an overall, dust coat or ordinary clothes involved directly in practical work on the ground.
Surely, can’t our civil engineers learn something from how some old and illiterate old men with mere references from ZECCO, Lewis or J J Lowe during United National Independence Party (UNIP) under Dr Kenneth Kaunda’s leadership were able to come up with strong buildings like the current University Teaching Hospital (UTH), Mulungushi House, Mulungushi International Conference Centre (MICC), Zambia police headquarters building, Zambia Intelligence and Security System (ZISS) commonly known as ‘red brick’ or Office of the President (OP) headquarter building, Zambia State Insurance Corporation (ZSIC) buildings and those of Zambian National Provided Fund (ZNPF) now National Pensions Scheme Authority (NAPSA) dotted throughout the country.
If one analyses such buildings, up to day, one cannot see any crack.
But one sees many cracks on buildings that people with diplomas and many degrees in civil engineering or building science build. This is also true in road and dam construction. Roads constructed by people who didn’t have diplomas or degrees were stronger than those done by graduates. Why? Is ‘twalya again’ negatively affecting the quality of works?
One person told this author that after winning a contract and being paid the first installment, one of the local contractors quickly bought an expensive vehicle for himself; and left too little money to carry out the whole construction work according to the contract.
Most of the shoddy works reported in the press and seen by local community members are a result ‘twalya again’ attitude towards funds paid for contracts offered.
One might also argue that it might not be only ‘twalya again’ that creates shoddy works. Poor designs and corruption (‘n’chekereko’ system) in public and private sector might also contribute to poor work construction. It has been argued that the money offered is shared with many authorities; including those who inspect the work for them to certify the works easily and quickly. So, everyone in the system wants ‘twalya again’.
But this is not to say that our country has no graduates or professionals that have excelled in their respective fields but to show that the majority of our graduates and professionals are letting Zambians and the country down for not making frantic efforts to honestly and objectively contribute to addressing societal socio-cultural, economic, political, legal and technological challenges our country is facing.
Even when some people are offered monthly salaried jobs, they celebrate being offered a job just because they know they will now be getting a monthly salary. Such people are not concerned about how they will prove that such a job has been given to a right person among many who applied for the same job. Such people aren’t concerned about how
best they will do their job to add value and contribute effectively to national development processes.
To respond to Mr Mwanakatwe’s observations, this writer knows one of UNZA graduates in mechanical engineering.
Let’s be responsible in our professions. Always remember your professional ethics. Let’s learn more on our professional knowledge and practice. Do a better job for a better tomorrow. ‘twalya again’ attitude always make us remain behind in poverty while our friends locally and abroad are overtaking us in socio-cultural, economic,
political, legal and technological advancements.
Blessed will be the day when all Zambians and professionals in various fields will realise the importance of hard work, responsibility, ethical practice quality product and service delivery for sustainable operations and national development processes in our country.