Oliphant Mfa, the Assistant Minister of Local Government and Member of Parliament for Nata, has denied reports that he has been served with summons by a Toteng Company law firm in connection with failure to pay a total of P48,112, which is the amount he is said to owe the Gabane-based company of Tholo Holdings for the supply of various stock feeds.
Asked to comment, Mfa said, “I do not know about the matter you are talking about,” and abruptly dropped the line.
Despite Mfa’s denials of the debt, summons from the mentioned law firm states that sometime between May and July, Tholo Holdings had supplied Mfa with various stock feeds to the amount of P16, 949, 78.
After that, Mfa issued a cheque to Tholo Holdings for the same amount. Tholo Holdings then deposited the cheque but it was referred back to him by the bank on the basis that Mfa did not have sufficient funds in his account.
The stated cheque was issued on January 30, 2008.
Last month, a cheque to the amount of P31, 163 was again issued by Mfa and was again dishonoured by the bank.
This then led to the current summons against Mfa.
Issuing a cheque without enough funds to cover it has recently been made a criminal offence. A person found guilty of the offence is liable to a P1, 500 fine or three months in jail or both.
Several people are currently appearing in the Courts across the country to face such charges. It is not known whether the company has taken up the matter with the police.
Mfa was recently in the news following his defeat in primary elections to “an unknown”, making people wonder if his political life has come to an end.
Before that he criss-crossed the country threatening civil servants with dismissal if they fail to perform but has lately become very quite.
