DEMOCRATIC Party president Harry Kalaba says it is in health minister Chitalu Chilufya’s own interest to resign from his post in light of investigations by the Anti-Corruption Commission
Kalaba also says Edgar Lungu is President for Chinese, no wonder his sickening silence amidst anti-labour practices in some Chinese-owned business entities.
Meanwhile, the opposition leader has called the government’s contraction of a French firm, Lazard Freres, to provide advisory services, in relation to liability management of Zambia’s debt portfolio, as an economic joke.
Kalaba hopes that corruption-accused Dr Chilufya would cooperate with the ACC.
“I appeal to Dr Chitalu Chilufya’s moral conscience that if President Lungu will not relieve him of his duties, as the ACC are probing him, which is most likely, Chitalu Chilufya will be honourable enough to say ‘let me step down and pave way for proper investigations to be done.’ Stepping down is in his own interest,” Kalaba told The Mast. “If Chitalu Chilufya remains as the health minister and yet he is being probed by the ACC, even when he will be exonerated, and maybe rightly so, people will not believe that Chitalu Chilufya has been exonerated. We have seen this before where some minister was exonerated by the courts of law, but people still consider that particular person as being corrupt. So, if he (Dr Chilufya) wants to be in that league, let him hang on to that kama office of being the health minister.”
Kalaba argued that Dr Chilufya was not being fought within the PF.
“I don’t want to believe that this is a political thing, that people are fighting him within the PF. That is rubbish! There are many people who want to become presidents in the PF. Why are they not appearing before the Anti-Corruption Commission? Why should it be only Chitalu Chilufya?” he asked. “The guy has issues which he should answer. We have seen the kind of monies which we have never seen before. If he is clean, we thank God [but] if he is found wanting, may the rule of law prevail upon him. We are tired of people who are involved in shoddy deals running away with murder. Let them not even politicise the Anti-Corruption Commission’s work.”
On the selection of Lazard Freres to offer advisory services on the country’s debt portfolio, Kalaba reacted that such an action typified that the PF government was not a forward-looking one.
According to secretary to the treasury Fredson Yamba, Lazard Freres would offer advisory services at a contracted sum of US $5 million.
“The contraction of Lazard from France to help us restructure our debt is very saddening. When we’ve been talking about this government not being forward-looking – a government that doesn’t want to use its local people in order to deal with problems – this is a typical example of what we’ve been talking about,” he said. “Government is going to spend close to a hundred million kwacha to pay a French firm that is going to help to look at the debt portfolio and help to restructure it. This is a joke! This is lack of seriousness.”
Kalaba asked: “where are our economists in this country?”
“If I was President, I would not have gone to France to ask them to restructure our loans. If I was President, I would have looked at our economists coming from the University of Zambia and the Ministry of Finance? Where is Professor [Oliver] Saasa? Where is Caleb Fundanga? These people are able to help us [to] restructure our debt,” he said. “We didn’t have to pay that amount of money to do this. This is a joke and it should come to an end. Every resource that we have in this country we have to take it outside this country! They have done the same with the gold mining; giving outsiders. Zambians have remained spectators. Shame upon this government!”
Meanwhile, on Lusaka mayor Miles Sampa’s supposedly induced apology for his ‘good deed’ of cautioning Chinese business owners in the capital city who are/were mistreating Zambians at places of work, Kalaba asked: “how do you take the mayor and parade him before the press to apologise to the Chinese people for doing the right thing?”
“This man (Sampa) was talking on behalf of the workers who are being kept in those factories, industries. He speaks for them and you rise against him! President Lungu is a president for the Chinese, not for the Zambians,” Kalaba charged. “How come he is failing to talk for Zambian people? Why does he take pleasure in always talking for the Chinese, instead of the Zambian people? He has not said a single word on the issue of Zambians being quarantined!”
He is distressed that the ministries of labour and of foreign affairs have not given comprehensive positions on some Zambians who were being mistreated by foreign business owners at places of work.
“But the mayor has been forced [to apologise]. The Minister of Local Government (Dr Charles Banda) had to castigate the Mayor of Lusaka in an open forum like that and the President himself rebuked the mayor by refusing to greet him…” Kalaba lamented. “Let us begin realising that we are a sovereign state which can make its own sovereign decisions. When I become President, this nonsense is coming to an end.”