By Kombe Mataka
FORMER Lusaka Province minister Bowman Lusambo has warned that government will pay heavily for inconveniencing him.
Lusambo told The Mast that the compensation that would accrue from wrongful prosecution would provide capital for his investment plans lined up for the future.
“I am not worried because they are making my big capital. I actually have big plans and they are not going to pay me small money. Government will pay big time for inconveniencing me like this. We have men and women in the judiciary working under difficult circumstances. They will not be pushed. They are not politicians that is the only hope which we have as a country. How can you take Bowman to court because of plots? This will be a bomb in their face because after the seizure of my property, people are not interested in the outcome. From 49 houses to plots, these are problems they are courting for themselves,” he said. “The compensation will be huge and we will make sure they pay. Government will lose a lot of money for these actions.”
Lusambo said President Hakainde Hichilema should not call for seizure of property for political opponents because former president Edgar Lungu did not seize his when he was in the opposition.
“That house has no problem whatsoever. And ACC (Anti-Corruption Commission) has no right to do what they have done. What is happening is just political excitement which is in the country. The law is very clear. ACC is using a law called proceeds of crime. They are abusing it. When they are talking about proceeds of crime, you are supposed to have a point where these proceeds are coming from. It is not enough just to say, ‘proceeds of crime’. So they are going to abuse the political opponents of Hakainde Hichilema because that is what they want. To silence us. But in democracy we don’t work like that. If president Chagwa Lungu used the same law of proceeds of crime on Hakainde Hichilema’s house, people would have talked. But president Edgar Lungu was not a petty president,” he said. “For me, I am a very proud person because I worked for things which I have. Even the Hichilema’s have failed to point fingers at the criminalities or illegalities they say I committed where I was serving. So I will move with my head high. Whatever I did, I did those things above board. If I had stolen, this world would have turned upside down. That is what they were looking for. Yes, I am not a saint. I would have been doing other things with my friends not within government. That is not government responsibility.”
Lusambo said it was shocking that the seizure of his property was not linked to any wrongdoing and that the burden of proof was left to him.
“They seized property because Bowman was [an MMD] diehard. So, Bowman is not supposed to have a house because he was diehard? The question the President posed on me is the one which he is supposed to be answering. Zambians want to know how he became the richest person in Zambia. Yes, I was diehard but I was a minister for five years. I have been an MP since 2016. I have been getting monies in gratuity. My gratuity was almost U$ $200,000 because then the dollar was less to the kwacha. So the President cannot ask me that question. Government was paying me for years and I was getting allowances for five years. And how does the President begin to discuss a private citizen during a press briefing? That is not leadership,” Lusambo said. “The President is supposed to protect his ctizens. It’s more like a husband who is in public and discussing the wife.”
He insisted that he had legal documentation to the seized house, which he would provide in court.
And Lusambo said he was not running away from ACC but that he was presenting a severe flue in the past days.
“The family has been inconvenienced because that is the main house that we have. Even the neighbours are shocked that this government can even do that because they started seeing the foundation of that property in 2013. The President has up to now failed to declare his assets publicly. That is hypocrisy,” he said. “He is not practicing what he is preaching.”
And commenting on bailiffs that seized his property in Ndola, Lusambo said they were being used by his opponents.
“There is no issue in it. It is just excitement. I don’t borrow money. People borrow from me. Those are all just being used but those things don’t bother me. If you go to Ndola people will tell you that Lusambo was even buying fuel for government for work to go on,” said Lusambo