GUY Scott says it does not make sense that there is so much corruption without anyone being convicted for the vice.
And Dr Scott revealed that government has refused to pay him for the 90 days he acted as Republican President following the death of incumbent Michael Sata.
He also says conditions were suitable for civil unrest if he hadn’t managed the situation properly in the December 2014 PF convention in Kabwe that ushered in Lungu as the party’s presidential candidate.
In an interview when he visited The Mast, the former vice-president wondered what the role of government control systems was and that of investigative wings.
“Somebody spends a million dollars on a fire engine, he’s not given any case. And things are not even put in front of the court. Have you heard somebody being asked about that? No. There’s so much that has to be gotten to the bottom. It’s a complicated area,” he said on Tuesday.
“…We hear stories of corruption, that somebody has stolen the money; and yet there’re controls. But where are they? I’m asking because if somebody says we run a government in transparency, how much do we know? How many people follow that? I see in newspapers, a story headline on corruption and another on gassing. You’ve caught people, who have you caught? It’s just worth getting the figures, that’s all.”
Dr Scott questioned frequent acquittals of corruption suspects amidst overwhelming evidence.
“There was a story in your paper recently about three days ago. And it said that there was somebody who had stolen. And then there were three who were acquitted,” Dr Scott said. “But that’s bad if nobody is there to stand at the door or state that this is bad. I don’t know, I don’t know how government administration works because I’m a politician. But, presumably, these guys who run around in the Ministry of Finance putting controls and all such things, why don’t they find out?”
And Dr Scott disclosed that President Edgar Lungu’s administration refused to recognize the period he acted as President and pay him for it.
“And we’ve got an interesting situation in Parliament. They refused to pay me for [the period] when I was Acting President. For 90 days I was answering questions on the floor,” he said. “I went to get my extra malipilo (wages) and some smart guy in the Ministry [of Finance] sent me a letter saying, but you weren’t acting as the President, and definitely you don’t get that increment. And I said, excuse me! I mean, nobody asked him for his opinion.”
Meanwhile, Dr Scott reflected on the December 2014 PF convention in Kabwe that ushered in Lungu as the party’s presidential candidate.
He said the conditions were suitable for civil unrest if there was no proper management of the situation.
“When I had 6,000 people in Kabwe after facing some people who wanted to vote for PF and everything else, we had had 6,000 people. Now if I hadn’t allowed any guns at all, if I’d said no guns, you’ll have had the conditions for civil unrest. We saw what they did, without the guns it would have been very difficult. But no one says is that a truthful account,” said Dr Scott. “And every morning I’m eager to look and see what I’d stolen, where I put it and so forth. But I can’t find anything, so I can’t even get an ice cream. But that doesn’t mean anything if you are not saying to me that I’ve stolen some money. What good is it to me or to the people? Very strange.”
Dr Scott also said he is glad that old politicians like Dr Boniface Kawimbe and Ernest Mwansa found time to visit him.