K5m is lost as the tourism ministry fails to register mortgages

Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times— ZBT, Salwindi stated, “For an average Zambian we lack the responsibility of knowing that money borrowed is supposed to be paid back within the agreed time.”

He argued that the non-payment can easily be dealt with through the credit bureau, scrutinizing recipients before they are allocated the taxpayer’s money.

“Organizations already know the culture that has been exhibited over time, and they are supposed to put in place that which ensures that recipients of these monies are people that are creditworthy. We have the credit bureau, which is supposed to provide ratings even at the individual level.”

“Due diligence is not done; instead of selecting people that are genuine, you select people because they bring a profile that looks solid in terms of being able to pay because they need that money,” he added.

Salwindi observed that nonpayment culture stretches across various funds and loans in the system because there are no strict measures at play.

He blamed the increase in the lack of payment on the corrupt systems that have been established, where certain officials facilitate for individuals to include on the recipients list withholding the whole process of due diligence.

This ultimately makes it difficult to claim or complain because the officers are afraid they might be exposed.

“Because we don’t ensure that the rating is prudently done, most of these government institutions have people that fasttrack payments or offer favors to be on the list of payments, which is corruption. Because of that, we don’t scrutinize the recipients, and the complacency in terms of getting the same issue of CDF.”

Interestingly, Salwindi revealed the devastating effects of the trend, such as the country missing out on collecting maximum revenue to handle competitive needs as well as the lack of increase in productivity because the funds are not reaching the intended Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) “We are missing on increasing productivity of the nation; retrieving that money becomes impossible, and we have competing needs where we need to allocate resources efficiently and other factors that could have benefited the nation, and we make habitual individuals riding on camps getting money for free; they form cartels with people in the offices.

Article by Samuel Mutale