Africa-Press – Zambia. MINISTER of Transport and Logistics, Honourable Frank Tayali has taken a swipe at the Controller of Government Transport for negating its responsibility of curbing the rampant misuse of Government vehicles.
He said he is very disappointed that on a number of occasions that he has called for statistics regarding the Government fleet, information has not been made available.
He described the conduct as unacceptable to note that it is not possible to track who was using government transport adding that there could be non-government officials using government transport.
The visibly upset Minister said when administrations change it does not mean Government changes as well because it has been one institution since 1964 adding that when administrations change it does not mean that staff should go to sleep.
He said this when he visited the offices of the Government Transport Control Unit offices as part of his familiarisation programme of Departments and Units under his ministry.
Hon. Tayali wondered why there have been so many accidents happening when the Unit is there to monitor the use of vehicles more so by officers on private errands.
The Minister said Controller of Government Transport Mr. Ernest Kunda working together with the Road Transport Safety Agency (RTSA) has a role to play in curbing the numerous accidents.
The Minister revealed that he got a tip-off from Mpika where a Government vehicle was captured on a video where a driver from the Ministry of Health was loading passengers and charging them.
He said there is a notorious driver from the Ministry of Health driving a white Land cruiser and wondered why such kind of negligence was being tolerated.
The Minister told Mr. Kunda that as a Controller, he should not be susceptible or liable to such kind of negligence. He strongly cautioned Mr. Kunda that the Mpika incident clearly shows that he is not in control of Government transport if such abuse can happen.
The Minister was accompanied by Acting Permanent Secretary Mr. Stephen Mbewe, Acting Director Planning Ms. Inreen Tembo, and other senior government officials from the ministry.
Other Departments the Minister visited are Office Equipment and Pontoon and Mechanical Services formerly Engineering Services Corporation (ESCO) Limited and the Provincial Maintenance Office.
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