Government To Blacklist Companies Involved In Corruption

President Hakainde Hichilema has set out plans to blacklist private sector companies and individuals who colluded with the previous Patriotic Front regime to defraud the country.

Speaking yesterday the President’s spokesperson Athony Bwalya explained that the blacklist would be extended to both corrupt individuals and any companies they own, control or have an interest in. These entities will then be banned from conducting any further business with the government.

Mr Bwalya added that only those companies which are able to demonstrate that they have been conducting business with the government in an above-board manner will be able to continue.

Upon taking office, President Hichilema promised to clean up the corruption which had grown rife during the previous administration. He remarked that the country’s coffers had been left “literally empty” by PF officials enriching themselves at the public’s expense. 

Already the government has set the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) after officials involved in the Honey Bee Pharmacies procurement scandal. In December, the ACC arrested six Ministry of Health officials involved in the scandal after it emerged that Honey Bee had provided faulty medical equipment to Zambian hospitals.