THE PICTURE being painted that I pocketed K1.2 million grant given to the Community Initiative I formed is malicious and not true, says former first lady Maureen Mwanawasa.

The Lusaka High Court has ordered Maureen and five others to pay back over K1.2 million they received through a non-governmental organisation, the Zambia National AIDS Network (ZNAN) for HIV/AIDS-related activities, which they have failed to account for.

This is in a matter in which ZNAN sued Maureen and five others for failure to account for a K1.25 million grants given to the Maureen Mwanawasa Community Initiative (MMCI).
The other give are Noreen Mapala, Wright Mumeka, Sam Mundia, Simon Sakala and Rosaria Fundanga, who are all trustees for the non-governmental organisation (NGO), which was founded by Maureen in 2002.

When the matter came up on Tuesday for the final judgment in default of defence before Lusaka High Court deputy registrar Charles Zulu, the court ordered the six to pay interest on all the sums due as well as costs of and incidental to the proceedings.

In its statement of claim filed in the Lusaka High Court, ZNAN demanded that the six MMCI trustees pay back the K1.25 million they got from the organisation, which they failed to account for.

ZNAN further stated that the six trustees had declined to refund the money despite them having been served with several reminders as well as a letter of summons from the High Court.

The organisation, through its lawyers, claimed that it has suffered loss and damage and further asked the court to grant it any relief that it may deem fit.
ZNAN was a principal recipient of the grants administered on behalf of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and malaria.

But the former first lady said because the accounting trail was not in order, MMCI was found wanting and not that she pocked the unaccounted for money.

She explained that after MMCI and ZNAN engaged lawyers, the money was paid back in two installments.

“That matter is a long resolved issue and I am calling on the Police to investigate further who are those people now who are suing when this money which was arrived at with the auditors was dealt with through Lawyers. What happened when ZNAN went under, debtors were not paid and people were looking for ways of stealing money. Among the organisations that were picked, MMCI was queried and in the first audit, there was no issue but there was some political force behind because MMCI, as you may know, was a countrywide organization so some people saw it as something that can turn into a political party but there was nothing like that,” Maureen said.

“There were a lot things which came in to ensure that we go down as an organization. A second audit was called but this second audit was not fair because it was pre-structured and they decided to say that despite all this explanation, you owe this money. So we called accountants from both sides (MMCI and ZNAN) and we found that we had to meet in between the figure which was found, not that it was missing. They could see it in the bank statements that scholarships were paid but what was missing was that our accountants didn’t prepare payment vouchers and there was no reciprocating receipting acknowledgement from the schools but as far as audit is concerned, when a paper trail is not in order even when the money is not lost, you will be found to be wanting.”

She said the Police should investigate where the money MMCI and ZNAN paid went to and whether it was remitted to Global Fund.

She has threatened to sue those branding her as a thief.

Maureen, however, said as the head of MMCI, she took full responsibility of her organisation’s transactions.

“MMCI engaged Mutemwa Chambers and people from ZNAN engaged Tembo Ngulube and Company and the money which was arrived at as unaccounted for…it’s unfortunate because they are putting it as if it’s me who stole that money. I was just a chairperson and I have always said, when you lead an organisation, the buck stops at you and I am not running away from that. I am very proud to still stand and say that the buck stops at me but I didn’t steal that money,” she said. “So when we resolved that let’s meet in between, the money was paid into two installments through Tembo Ngulube and Company and through our lawyer Mutemwa Chambers, who are still there and can verify. My worry is that when ZNAN went down, a lot of factions came up to start looking for Global Fund money but we are also saying where is the money, which MMCI paid, where did it go? Did they remit it to Global Fund? Because this is supposed to be a closed issue. And we would like those who have gone to court now to be investigated, who are they…because this thing was resolved and money was paid through a transparent, agreed programme. We intend now to sue for malicious statements which they are making that we stole money…”