Patriotic Front Intra-party Politics Get Dirty As Miles Desputes Allegations Levelled Against Him By Hon. Dr. Charles Banda.
…”I have never sold any council property as Lusaka Mayor,” Sampa writes Minister.
Lusaka – 16th April, 2021.
Dr. Charles Banda
The Hon. Minister
Local Government Ministry
LUSAKA
April 14th, 2021.
Dear Sir,
Re: Daily Nation Reported Sale of Buseko and Matero Hall.
I noted with surprise the Hon. Minister’s statement in the public media (Daily Nation) this morning on the above captioned.
As this matter is now in public domain and as the Hon Minister maybe aware that I am one of the applicants for adoption as Matero MP on the PF ticket, matters to do with the Constituency come direct in my persona and more so that I was the area MP from 2011 to 2016, I wish to dispel instantly the above misleading headlines today.
In my 3 years tenure as Mayor of Lusaka from 2018 and as I wind up in this year of the Lord of 2021, I have made it a point that no LCC asset is sold and if need be I have advocated and supported the lease or the Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.
In rare circumstances where a parcel of land has been sold (via public advertsement) for one reason or another like to pay off historical staff salary backlog, it has only been done after the Town Clerk that has powers to has written to the Ministry of Local Government to seek permision.
It has not been until a written authority signed by the PS Local Government has been received, that said mostly commercial plots have been sold and all handled by Management that have powers to as the Mayor position is ceremonial and not prevy to tender processes.
Above stated Hon. Minister, it is therefore not true that Buseko market and Matero Hall have been sold. It is just not possible to ever sell a Council property without the knowledge and approval of the Ministry of Local Government.
In addition, I have never Chaired any Full Council meeting that Approved the sale of the said 2 assets. The factual truth about Buseko market was that in a Council Housing Committee meeting dated 1st October, 2015 and chaired by then Matero Ward 24 Councillor Lee Mukupa and under Mayor Ken Nyendwa, a decision was made to attract investors to mordernise the market via a PPP.
When I became Mayor in 2018, we decided to write to the PPP Central Government Unit at the Ministry of Finance (MOF) seeking permission to proceed with the PPP.
Response was received and we were asked to undertake a Feasibility Study which we did some months later. We were again written to that we avail other technical details like number of marketeers and other details. We have since been on hold on the Buseko market issue until we get the formal Approval from the Central Government PPP unit at MOF.
As for Matero Hall, I only came to learn about it from the article in the Daily Nation today. Any discussion around it in a meeting I was present I would have dismissed the idea instantly more so for sentimental reasons as I used to watch free projector cinema from there when I was about 8 years old.
So I place on record that as Mayor, no LCC structure (Market, Bus Stop, Building etc) has ever been Sold.
Rent, Lease and PPP have been my approach more so that Council assets have to be preserved for future generations.
It is in this spirit that I wish to commend you Hon Minister for your blanket decision to advise LCC and other Councils that No assets should be sold as we conclude our term next 4 weeks.
Please be assured Sir that at LCC where I preside, No discussion of selling anything of Council will be entertained as has been the case since I assumed the Mayoral office. In any case, there is no further Full Council meeting that have the mandate to authorise same.
In our last Full Council meeting last week, I agreed with the Town Clerk and some Councillors that anything that had semblance of selling, said Item were Withdrawn or Defered i.e. Were Not Approved.
Hon. Minister, for my own reputation now and beyond, I took the liberty to formally write to your good office to place facts on record and more so that matter (conived by a known Adoption candidate for the Matero MP sear and keen to dent my massive Goodwill in the Constituency) is all over social media where apparently anything posted is deemed truthful and factual.
Suffice to underscore however that said captioned propagada on me in particular, was conived by a known Adoption candidate for the Matero MP seat and he is determined day and night to dent my massive Goodwill in both Matero Constituency and Lusaka City in general.
I submit for your information Sir and importantly to commend you for your vigilance on Council assets that we all should guard jealously for the benefit of Resident’s great grand children.
Sir, I respectfully submit and many thanks for your guidance to my office since you assumed the Local Government Minister office.
Best wishes & Yours in City Duties,
Miles Bwalya Sampa
Mayor of Lusaka
CC: Mr. Alex Mwansa: The Town Clerk
Deputy Mayor: Hon Christopher Shakafuswa