ACC SEARCHED EVERYWHERE
…short of pushing their heads in my pit latrines – Mukupa
By Kombe Mataka
FORMER PF chairman Samuel Mukupa says Anti-Corruption Commission officers searched all things at his Mporokoso farm short of pushing their heads in pit latrines.
He says there is a serious perception that members of the former ruling party amassed a lot of wealth and are hiding stacks of money in various areas.
Narrating the search conducted at his Mporokoso farm on Tuesday by the Anti-Corruption Commission officers, Mukupa, a former Road Development Agency (RDA) board chairman, said the ACC should consider technology that would detect hidden money or property.
He said the ACC search encompassed every area of his property including the chicken run.
“When I asked them what they were looking for, for some reason, they thought I was just some kind of a nuisance. I told them kuti mwa nsendela icishimba (you may get my charm) because they were not being specific about their search. The paper did not suggest that they were looking for corruption,” he said.
“They searched literally everything including pump houses. They were short of pushing their heads in the pit latrines. They told workers to give them their phones. They went through everything meticulously, short of simply saying they were even counting my wife’s pants.”
Mukupa said there was a perception that those who belong to PF had amassed boxes of money which they were lifting on their heads and vehicles from the Central Bank of Zambia.
“They are looking for stashes of money that they imagine everyone from PF got. They are searching everywhere to find it,” he said.
“Why doesn’t ACC just find a helicopter to do an aerial view everywhere so that they could find these vehicles that were used for campaigns? If possible, ACC could also do reconnaissance in terms of radio movements to detect where the dollars and monies are hidden and buried.”
Mukupa said he hoped the investigative officers were not following him because of a position he held as Road Development Agency (RDA) chairman.
“I was just patient with them until they finished. I did not know what they were looking for. I can safely say the people who searched were four. In their company were five armed police officers. Then there were three or four vehicles outside,” he said.
“When they finished, they asked me to register my complaint if I have any over the search but I laughed and told them ‘if my complaint is against you, why should I report to you and not an independent wing?’”
Mukupa said he felt harassed because the ACC officers did not tell him what they were searching for.
“I am being harassed because first and foremost, I was not told why property which I acquired years ago was being searched. They searched literally everywhere, leaving no stone unturned. I would want to think this is why people make conclusions that the ongoing investigations are a scheme to get at everyone linked to PF. Because many of us in the PF where I belong, many of the PF members have been searched,” said Mukupa.
“The search was done at my farm. You know, I am a villager. You cannot take the village out of me. When I retired, I left the house I was renting in Lusaka and moved back here where I have a big piece of land. I am not like you people that fight over small pieces of land in Lusaka because you want to remain in town. I have owned this land over many years. I got into politics before some of you were born. I was the first member of parliament for Chimbamilonga [during the MMD government]. So the initial search warrant had a date stamp for the Mporokoso Magistrate but it had a date indicating 4th February 2022. So I told them ‘if it is 4th then it should be presumed that you have already done a search’. So they went and changed the warrant showing that it had nothing to do with Mporokoso Magistrate. It could have been something that was manufactured.”
Source: The Mast