I fired one minister for corruption – Lungu - Zambian Observer [PDF]

5 hours ago - And President Lungu says corruption in Zambia will never end as long as faulty system remain in place. Spe

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Idea Transcript


PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu says he fired one minister following a report suspecting him of engaging in corruption. And President Lungu says corruption in Zambia will never end as long as faulty system remain in place.

Speaking yesterday during the Anti-Corruption Day at the Government Complex in Lusaka, President Lungu, in apparent reference to former information minister Chishimba Kambwili, said he had received reports about the minister’s alleged involvement in corruption and his lack of co-operation with the Anti-Corruption Commission when investigations against them were launched. He further wondered why the ACC had not yet arrested the former minister in question. “I want to tell you, if it means it is an exposé, that I have not fired many ministers, but I have fired a few. One of them was fired because there was a report that he was suspected to be involved in corruption. And up to now, I am waiting for investigators to investigate this man and bring him to book but they have not done so. Why haven’t they done so? I beg to be told but I want to make it clear that I will not tolerate corruption. If you come to me and tell me X, Y, Z has committed corruption or abuse of office and I feel that there is a possibility that this is real, I will say, ‘go ahead and bring him to book’…I will not condone corruption in my government and I will not look kindly upon members of my government who take advantage of their positions to enrich themselves at the expense of the Zambian people,” President Lungu said. He, however, said he would not dismiss any minister on mere allegations of corruption until investigations proved so, despite earlier indicating that he had fired one minister after he was accused of corruption. “An allegation of corruption against a minister will not entail that he has to be dropped…he has to be investigated. Once he is investigated, he should be brought to book, no one is above the law. But in this particular case I am talking about, this minister was questioned and he said ‘who are you? I am a minister’. And then ACC told me ‘look, your minister is not cooperating’, I said ‘I will drop him’. At that point, you can be dropped because Amos Chanda has been invited several times by ACC to answer queries and he has answered, he has cooperated with the ACC, which is as it should be. He has been found clean,” President Lungu said. “If you say ‘Given Lubinda is corrupt’, I will not drop him, I will allow you to investigate him and if you find him wanting, you can prosecute him but if Given Lubinda becomes a challenge to your inquiries and investigations, I will drop him, that’s how I work. I want to make this very clear that if Given Lubinda says ‘no, you can’t talk to me because I am minister’, then me and Given Lubinda will part company and that is how I part company with some ministers but whether ACC takes 20 years, 30 years to investigate because they don’t have resources, I will not go into that. But I can tell you that we all have to protect the little wealth that we have by being clean.”

He advised government officials to cooperate with the ACC whenever summoned on corruption allegations. “I want to make it very clear because they think that I tolerate corruption, somebody said I am corruption itself or I am the manifestation of corruption. I am not because I believe that the wealth that we have belongs to the people and we should use it properly. Let’s guard against wolves in sheep’s skin in our crusade against corruption. There are so many wolves in our midst who have put on the cloth of the crusade against corruption, who are championing the fight against corruption daily but they don’t even know what they mean. What they want is to hoodwink people that they are sincere. They get positions, they do what they want to do and then in the end, abuse the processes,” President Lungu said. And the Head of State said corruption would not end under the current government systems. “The Auditor General’s report is always historical, it is water under the bridge and sometimes you find that a person has been picked, he stole money and using the same money, he will hire the best lawyers,” said President Lungu. “Even if you change PF today, PF government goes and you bring in UPND or whichever government you may wish to bring in, with the current set up, the abuse of office will continue, the corruption will continue because the mechanisms are not adequate, they are not even there. Auditor General’s report is always historical. PAC talked about things which happened three, four years ago.”

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