.SILIYA

By PERPETUAL SICHIKWENKWE –

DORA Silya usurped the controlling officer’s role when she responded to a letter of free offer from Selex Sistemi Intergrati to repair the radar at the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport, a witness has said.
Former permanent secretary in the Ministry of Communication and Transport, Mukuka Zimba told Lusaka chief resident magistrate Joshua Banda that her former boss Siliya had no authority to cancel a tender for the purchase of the radar.
This is in a matter in which Siliya is facing two counts of abuse of authority relating to the two radar installation and commissioning.
Siliya is alleged to have in the first count, directed the cancellation of a duly awarded tender for the supply, delivery, installation and commissioning of the Zambia Air Traffic Management Surveillance Radar System by Thales Air System SA.
She is in the second count alleged to have accepted a free offer from Selex Sistemi Intergrati S.P.A for the repair of a radar head at the airport without following procedure, a move which Government says cost K1, 943, 932, 360.00.
During continued trial yesterday, Ms Zimba, 58, said she was surprised that Siliya responded to a letter written by Selex when the issue was at technical level.
Ms Zimba, who served two tenures in the ministry from January to June 2008 and January to June 2009, told the court that she could not tell whether or not money was allocated to the ministry for the purchase of new radars because there was total confusion after Siliya took over office.
She said that when she first joined the ministry in 2008, she found Sarah Sayifwanda as the minister, who one day informed her that an issue had been raised in Parliament that Zambia was operating without a radar system.
She consulted the experts from within the ministry and Civil Aviation Department, who advised her to draft a letter to the minister so that she could invite Selex, a company that had supplied the radar to come and look at it.
Ms Zimba said that experts from Selex later advised the ministry through a technical proposal that the radar was obsolete and needed replacement.
She said that she advised the minister on the need to look for funding for the purchase of new radars for Lusaka and Livingstone airports and a letter was written to then secretary to the treasury Evans Chibiliti requesting for funds.
Ms Zimba said that Mr Chibiliti approved the request in principle but advised the ministry to consult with the Zambia Public Procurement Authority (ZPPA) on the issue of single sourcing.
She said that before she could deal with everything, she was transferred to the Ministry of Tourism.
Ms Zimba said that when she was transferred back to the ministry in January 2009, she found that Siliya had taken over as minister and that during the handover by Eustace Mambwe, who was then permanent secretary, it became clear that the issue of the radar was not handled the way the experts had advised.
Ms Zimba said that after consulting with experts, she wrote a letter where she raised concerns to Selex that they needed to finish up the works but she was transferred to another ministry.
She denied assertions by Siliya’s defence lawyer Lubinda Linyama that she single sourced Selex to purchase the radar, but the unmarked letter produced in court showed that Ms Zimba had recommended for the single sourcing of Selexi.
Trial continues on 23 July 2014.