EXTEND INVESTIGATIONS TO ALL POLITICAL PARTY’S
INVESTIGATIONS into sources of funding should be extended to all political parties to explain conditions attached to their financing.New Heritage Party president Chishala Kateka said in an interview yesterday that it is unfair for investigative wings to allegedly target one political party when 15 others participated in the August 12 general election.
The Patriotic Front (PF) has sued Attorney General as principal defendant, Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) and police for alleged unlawful harassment of its members.
This is after PF secretary general Davies Mwila wrote a complaint letter to, among others, the European Union, African Union and Southern African Development Community (SADC) against what he termed victimisation, intimidation, misrepresentation and purported investigation regarding the party’s sources of funding for the general election. “I am not defending the Patriotic Front.
I am just saying if these investigations will be opened to political parties, then all of us should be investigated.“You will be amazed at where political parties were getting their money from. Speaking as a Zambian, one of the things political parties do is that they get funding for their political activities,” Ms Kateka said.She said Zambians would not vote for some political parties if they knew conditions attached to money they receive from donors.
Ms Kateka is ready to be investigated because she has nothing to hide.“The temptation to get the money out there is very high for all of us but the conditions are what some of us think about. “They will give you money and say you will do this when you are voted into power,” Ms Kateka said.
Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP) executive director George Chimembe said PF is on firm ground to take the three investigative wings to court because there is no law that compels political parties to reveal their source of funding.Mr Chimembe said if DEC is investigating the former ruling party, then the exercise should be extended to other political organisations.
He said it is only fair that all parties that participated in the general election are probed because this will be part of the rule of law.“What DEC is doing is amounting to harassment of PF members because we do not know the law these people are using to conduct the questioning.
“As we do electoral reforms, let us deal with issues of the Political Parties Bill, which will compel political parties to reveal their sources of funding,” Mr Chimembe