By Diggers Editor…OPINION
25th October 2021
WE are baffled with the conclusion of Faith Musonda’s case and we believe we speak for many when we say it hurts that our investigative wings think they can hide behind section 80 of their Act.
The investigative wings want people to believe that they have signed an agreement with Faith Musonda so that she can forfeit her stolen money and property. That’s nonsense to say the least.
People are hurting because the Anti-Corruption Commission has not told the people specific details about how that decision was arrived at, and when we look at the record that is in public domain, we find that they are lying. The problem with lies is that they leave a lot of loose ends.
A day or so before ACC’s announcement, Faith Musonda’s lawyers told the media that there had been no progress on the matter and that they would wait on police to call them again. Suddenly ACC is announcing some funny agreement? When did that agreement take place? Where was it done? Which room was it done from? Who was present? Who signed that agreement?
As far as we know, Faith has not admitted to anything. In both meetings with the police she didn’t volunteer any information. Our people are not foolish, as the UPND government may think. Let them just say that “we have struck a deal with the real owner of the money and we don’t want to prosecute him.”
We do not need to know all the hard facts, but logic dictates that Faith could not have acted alone in this corrupt transaction. This is why we cannot be so naive to believe the cover up story that ACC is trying to feed the nation. Someone much bigger than Faith stole that money from some sensitive government accounts and whoever this person is, he is untouchable. There is nothing about section 80 that can justify this move by the ACC. This is simply a case of exercising caution while trying to kill a mosquito that is biting someone’s genitals.
This development says a lot about the direction in which we are moving in our fight against corruption. The message that the UPND government is sending to the nation is that there will be no prosecutions for the corrupt as long as they are willing to sign a document and return what they have been caught stealing. ACC is telling the nation that HH on corruption te sana.
In the eyes of many Zambians this was one of easiest cases to prosecute. You find a person with K65 plus million in their house, they can’t explain its source, and they cannot explain how they built the million dollar house. That’s a potential convict. So how did ACC fail to prosecute? If you can’t arrest such an individual, who are you going to arrest?
This is a declaration of weakness by the UPND government and our investigative wings, and their collective failure to make the criminals behind this saga account is embarrassing. In fact, it’s safe to say that this is abetting corruption!
Ati “she has admitted committing a crime but we don’t need to prosecute since we have recovered the assets”. Are they telling us that if someone says they had stolen K10,000 from the government, and offers to return it, the State should believe that and close the case? What kind of law is that? And why do we have people in jail today for theft? They should all be asked to pay back and go home.
If this is the President’s plan to fight corruption, then he has a reckless plan which will backfire and make him very unpopular. This is news that you would expect to hear in the Edgar Lungu’s PF administration, not in the New Dawn era. Zambians hate corruption. If there is anything that unites them more than soccer and religion, it’s corruption.
Today Zambians are asking questions. Is this what the President meant when he said he would reconcile the country? Is this what he meant when he said the former government leaders should not worry because he would take care of them?
If this news was happening in Congo or Zimbabwe, we would be questioning the leadership capacity of that country. The reason is because this is simply wrong and damaging to the country’s reputation.
Those who surround the President must tell him that this development is the worst news from his government and it has done some irreparable damage to his intended legacy. A president who allows such to happen under his watch is a dangerous one. It is clear from this case that President Hichilema’s talk about fighting corruption is just talk. The difference between him and ECL, there is no!