{"id":422623,"date":"2011-05-05T12:39:47","date_gmt":"2011-05-05T12:39:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/05\/05\/president-doesnt-buy-arms-says-mwansa\/"},"modified":"2011-05-05T12:39:47","modified_gmt":"2011-05-05T12:39:47","slug":"president-doesnt-buy-arms-says-mwansa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/05\/president-doesnt-buy-arms-says-mwansa\/","title":{"rendered":"President Doesn&#8217;t Buy Arms, Says Mwansa"},"content":{"rendered":"<div readability=\"77.9712765957\">\n<hr class=\"thin clear\" \/>\n<hr class=\"thin clear\" \/>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.times.co.zm\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/allafrica.com\/img\/static\/publishers\/minibanners\/timeszambia180.jpg\" alt=\"The Times of Zambia (Ndola)\" title=\"Visit The Times of Zambia (Ndola)\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>5 May 2011<\/p>\n<hr class=\"thin clear\" \/>\n<p>Defence Minister Kalombo Mwansa has said it is grossly unfair and mischievous for his predecessor George Mpombo to allege that President Rupiah Banda instructed the ministry to procure arms worth US$100 million when the head of State is not involved in buying arms.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Mwansa said in Lusaka yesterday that the president as commander-in-chief of the armed forces does not order or participate in the procurement of arms for the defence forces.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is not normal practice for the Ministry of Defence to discuss issues of procurement of equipment and arms in the media because of the security considerations which surround such matters.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;However, I am compelled to respond to recent statements by former Defence minister George Mpombo, alleging that President Banda, and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, did instruct the Ministry of Defence to procure arms at a total cost of US$100 million.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;A number of people have continued commenting on this matter without ascertaining the truth or indeed verifying such serious allegations with my office,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Dr Mwansa said it was worth noting that Mr Mpombo only made the allegations against the president after he was arrested for abuse of office and theft following revelations by the auditor-general that he never retired imprest when he served as minister of Defence, and wondered why it took him such a long time after he resigned to make such a revelation.<\/p>\n<p>He said the president did not order or participate in the procurement of arms for the defence forces but only dealt with matters of defence and security policy, and strategy.<\/p>\n<p>Dr Mwansa said administrative and logistical activities such as equipment procurement were handled by the permanent secretary and respective service chiefs.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Neither the president as commander in-chief nor State House gets involved in the procurement of equipment for the defence forces. This is wholly the responsibility of the Ministry of Defence and respective defence and security wings.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Procurement of equipment for the defence forces follows the normal and legally established tender procedures save that the process does not unfold publicly on the open market,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>He said any procurement initiated by the defence and security wings followed a pertinent needs assessment.<\/p>\n<p>Dr Mwansa said the process went through the Ministry of Defence procurement committee, Zambia Public procurement Authority and Ministry of Finance and National Planning.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Even after approval is given, a contract will only be signed after the Attorney General chambers has scrutinised it and given its legal opinion.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In all these processes, the president of Zambia and commander-in-chief of the armed forces is not involved at all,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>He said the Ministry of Defence had not in recent years bought any equipment or arms at a price of $100 million.<\/p>\n<p>He said records were there at the Ministry of Defence as well as at the Ministry of Finance and National Planning showing that Zambia had not procured arms worth that amount.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In view of the above, it is clear that the president, or indeed the mentioned son of the president, cannot be connected to the supply of equipment or arms to the Ministry of Defence.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The procurement process is very stringent and does not directly involve the head of State or State House,&#8221; Dr Mwansa said.<\/p>\n<p>He said it was grossly unfair and mischievous for Mr Mpombo to misinform the nation on such a sensitive matter, which bordered on matters of defence and national security.<\/p>\n<p>He said the Ministry of Defence was aware of the excitement which went with the unfolding 2011 elections campaign.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We should nonetheless all be mindful that issues pertaining to defence and security should never be politicised especially with the use of plain lies as in this particular case,&#8221; Dr Mwansa said.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<fieldset>\n<legend align=\"center\"><strong>More News on allAfrica.com<\/strong><\/legend>\n<\/fieldset>\n<p>AllAfrica &#8211; All the Time<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>Visit site:<br \/>\n<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/allafrica.com\/stories\/201105050757.html\" title=\"President Doesn't Buy Arms, Says Mwansa\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">President Doesn&#8217;t Buy Arms, Says Mwansa<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> 5 May 2011 Defence Minister Kalombo Mwansa has said it is grossly unfair and mischievous for his predecessor George Mpombo to allege that President Rupiah Banda instructed the ministry to procure arms worth US$100 million when the head of State is not involved in buying arms. Mr Mwansa said in Lusaka yesterday that the president as commander-in-chief of the armed forces does not order or participate in the procurement of arms for the defence forces<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-422623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>President Doesn&#039;t Buy Arms, Says Mwansa - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/05\/president-doesnt-buy-arms-says-mwansa\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"President Doesn&#039;t Buy Arms, Says Mwansa - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"5 May 2011 Defence Minister Kalombo Mwansa has said it is grossly unfair and mischievous for his predecessor George Mpombo to allege that President Rupiah Banda instructed the ministry to procure arms worth US$100 million when the head of State is not involved in buying arms. Mr Mwansa said in Lusaka yesterday that the president as commander-in-chief of the armed forces does not order or participate in the procurement of arms for the defence forces\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"http:\/\/allafrica.com\/img\/static\/publishers\/minibanners\/timeszambia180.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/05\/president-doesnt-buy-arms-says-mwansa\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/05\/president-doesnt-buy-arms-says-mwansa\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"President Doesn&#8217;t Buy Arms, Says Mwansa\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-05T12:39:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/05\/president-doesnt-buy-arms-says-mwansa\/\"},\"wordCount\":645,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/05\/president-doesnt-buy-arms-says-mwansa\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/allafrica.com\/img\/static\/publishers\/minibanners\/timeszambia180.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/05\/president-doesnt-buy-arms-says-mwansa\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/05\/president-doesnt-buy-arms-says-mwansa\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/05\/president-doesnt-buy-arms-says-mwansa\/\",\"name\":\"President Doesn't Buy Arms, Says Mwansa - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/05\/president-doesnt-buy-arms-says-mwansa\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/05\/president-doesnt-buy-arms-says-mwansa\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/allafrica.com\/img\/static\/publishers\/minibanners\/timeszambia180.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-05T12:39:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/05\/president-doesnt-buy-arms-says-mwansa\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/05\/president-doesnt-buy-arms-says-mwansa\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/allafrica.com\/img\/static\/publishers\/minibanners\/timeszambia180.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/allafrica.com\/img\/static\/publishers\/minibanners\/timeszambia180.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"President Doesn't Buy Arms, Says Mwansa - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/05\/president-doesnt-buy-arms-says-mwansa\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"President Doesn't Buy Arms, Says Mwansa - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"5 May 2011 Defence Minister Kalombo Mwansa has said it is grossly unfair and mischievous for his predecessor George Mpombo to allege that President Rupiah Banda instructed the ministry to procure arms worth US$100 million when the head of State is not involved in buying arms. Mr Mwansa said in Lusaka yesterday that the president as commander-in-chief of the armed forces does not order or participate in the procurement of arms for the defence forces","twitter_image":"http:\/\/allafrica.com\/img\/static\/publishers\/minibanners\/timeszambia180.jpg","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/05\/president-doesnt-buy-arms-says-mwansa\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/05\/president-doesnt-buy-arms-says-mwansa\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"President Doesn&#8217;t Buy Arms, Says Mwansa","datePublished":"2011-05-05T12:39:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/05\/president-doesnt-buy-arms-says-mwansa\/"},"wordCount":645,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/05\/president-doesnt-buy-arms-says-mwansa\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/allafrica.com\/img\/static\/publishers\/minibanners\/timeszambia180.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/05\/president-doesnt-buy-arms-says-mwansa\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/05\/president-doesnt-buy-arms-says-mwansa\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/05\/president-doesnt-buy-arms-says-mwansa\/","name":"President Doesn't Buy Arms, Says Mwansa - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/05\/president-doesnt-buy-arms-says-mwansa\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/05\/president-doesnt-buy-arms-says-mwansa\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/allafrica.com\/img\/static\/publishers\/minibanners\/timeszambia180.jpg","datePublished":"2011-05-05T12:39:47+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/05\/president-doesnt-buy-arms-says-mwansa\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/05\/president-doesnt-buy-arms-says-mwansa\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/allafrica.com\/img\/static\/publishers\/minibanners\/timeszambia180.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/allafrica.com\/img\/static\/publishers\/minibanners\/timeszambia180.jpg"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422623\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}