HH must convict the corrupt or stop talking about corruption – Mwanza
By Thomas Ngala
THE majority of Zambian people get very offended and very emotional over issues of corruption, says Antonio Mwanza.
The PF media director has advised President Hakainde Hichilema to stop talking about corruption.
Mwanza said instead of talking about the vice, the President needed to ‘convict’ some people accused of indulging in it.
He scorned the new dawn administration during the Millennium Radio’s “The Interview Programme” on Tuesday for “failing” to secure convictions in the corruption related cases from the time it was voted into power.
“The President keeps on talking about corruption every day. The challenge is, why is he not convicting the people that are accused of corruption? It’s one year down the line. You have got the Public Accounts Committee Report, you have got the Auditor General’s Report, you have the Financial Intelligence Centre Report, you are the President of the Republic of Zambia,” Mwanza noted. “He has transferred the Anti-Corruption Commission, the Zambia Police, the Drug Enforcement Commission, the Financial Intelligence Centre. He has transferred these government departments to State House. Why is he failing to bring one, not two, umonzi chabe wa PF kuti uyu anaba K2 million (just one PF member to say this one stole K2 million)? I think Zambians must be worried. The way we are talking about corruption every day, there are no convictions!”
Asked if there was corruption in the PF administration, he said President Hichilema must prove that there was “since he is in charge”.
“So the President must stop talking about corruption. He must convict the corrupt. You can’t continue talking about corruption one year down the line you are failing to bring a single individual…Why is he failing to prove that there was corruption one year down the line? And let us talk about their corruption going on right now. Within one year, there are two major scandals at the Ministry of Community Development,” said Mwanza. “A motorbike which costs K25,000, this government signed a deal to buy those at K130,000 each. Another scandal, njinga (bicycle), not sports bike, Eagle njinga for K2,000, this government is purchasing one at the Ministry of Local Government at K28,000 per njinga and they want to purchase 20,000 bicycles. They want to steal K2.3 million.”