The other issue that I just want to highlight is the issue of allowances that were being paid to the employees. We found out that the employees, both men and women at ZINARA, were being given hairdo allowances. They were going to SHE and HE Salons and other salons, the company was paying for such allowances. We found that it was a practice that is unheard of where employees could just get into a barber shop and have a hair cut or hairdo and the company will settle the bill.
The other allowance that was also astonishing was the gym allowance. The company was paying the gym companies on behalf of the employees but at the same time, the company was also buying the gym equipment for the same employees so there was double dipping there. If the employees wanted to go to the gym, the allowance could be fine and not necessarily also the company buying for them the gym equipment. As we were going deeper with the forensic report, we discovered that all these allowances that were being paid to these employees were not provided for in their contracts of employment. We have a feeling that management and the board at ZINARA was just there to prejudice the road authorities and the good intentions of our Government when they established ZINARA. Those are some of the issues Mr. Speaker Sir, that I said let me add my voice on so that at least we can work out on the best modality for ZINARA on how best they can support the plan that our Government is having for our roads.
As we heard last week, our President has announced that there are some several billions that have to be invested in our roads because they are in a bad state. The state of our roads currently was also equally contributed by the way ZINARA was being run. I think if it was run efficiently, we could not be in a situation that we are in now as a country. When these fund accounts are created, they need serious monitoring and evaluation to make sure that they are sticking to their mandate and they are sticking to their establishing Act of Parliament. I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
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