Govt doesn’t have full ownership of Gulfstream – Stardy Mwale
By Kombe Chimpinde Mataka
FORMER ministry of defence permanent secretary Stardy Mwale says he can’t fathom how government will sell the Gulfstream G650 presidential jet as the country does not have full ownership yet.
Mwale told journalists at his residence on Thursday following his arrest that he didn’t followed the procedure in procuring the plane through a credit facility.
“The question is how is it going to be sold? Is it by public auction? And who is this client? Is he going to buy the way it is. I doubt because that is a military property. It is not a government property,” Mwale argued. “It’s air force one. Who is going to buy it? How is that person going to buy it? I have told you that it is not an ordinary jet. So how are we going to sell that jet? What are we trying to reveal to the outside world?”
He claimed that very little had been paid by the government for the debt and it was highly unlikely that the UPND government could “at this point claim ownership”.
“If something is leased, if I get a vehicle from Toyota Zambia and I just pay small money – and maybe it will take me 10, 15 years to completely pay – they will not give me total ownership of that vehicle. So even when I want to sell it, how do I sell it? The overall ownership remains with Toyota Zambia. It will only be mine when I pay the last coin. That jet, as Zambia, we have just paid very little. So to sell it, maybe I don’t know, maybe,” he said.
Mwale asked President Hakainde Hichilema to lift his oath of secrecy so that he could explain what was procured in US $400 million meant for the deal.
“I am arrested together with my civil servants, I feel very bad because they are very innocent. They are extremely innocent. I am urging them to respect civil servants wherever they are because they are the machine to run this country. They are the ones who can help you run the country properly. So frustrating of civil servants, the frustrations should not come to me. It should not go to the previous regime. About the 400,000 I want to tell Zambians the truth, that money…no one should cheat that the jet costed 400 million, no. The jet costed $120 million. The actual price for the jet was [US $]70 million. The other 50 million is for things that we had put. I told you it is not an ordinary jet. You see I am not even supposed to say this but when people put it in the social media, put it in TVs, put it everywhere, it is just as good as revealing the tunnels [at State House]. I think normal people wouldn’t have spoken anything to do with Ministry of Defence. That is a ministry that is not meant for jokes,” Mwale said. “We did what we did in order to protect every Zambian. In the same 400 million once my oath is lifted, I will say what other things we procured which is making all of us Zambians to sleep peacefully. To move peacefully, to see whoever is trying to bring confusion in Zambia, which I didn’t spend but it was a credit facility. So to say Stardy bought a plane at 400 million, I deny. I ask people to do due diligence, to see if at all Ministry of Defence are the ones who spent that money. We didn’t do it. Yes, I worked on the papers and made sure everything was fitted and I made sure that money from a credit facility… We did all the papers and we followed the laid down procedure.”
He claimed that civil servants from the Ministry of Defence arrested with him were innocent.
“Yes it is true I am arrested together with the civil servants who I respect too much, who we respected too much in the previous regime. Let us not run away from certain responsibilities by putting our civil servants in awkward situations. Let us respect our civil servants. Let us not just smear mud on them and blame them for things that we are doing wrong ourselves,” said Mwale. “I am asking His Excellency the President to lift my oath so that I tell Zambians the truth about the 400 million. That money did not come in this country. It was a credit facility and controlled by the country that gave us that money.”