HICHILEMA MUST RESIGN AND CORRUPT KAKUBO MUST BE ARRESTED
Mr Hakainde Hichilema yesterday accepted the resignation of Mr Stanley Kakubo as Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
This was after documents, photos and videos of Mr Kakubo allegedly collecting a sum of over US $200,000 and a luxury Mercedes Benz automobile, among other things, from a named Chinese national went viral on social media.
The transaction is in relation to the sale of a mine, Mr Kakubo claimed to own in North Western Province.
Mr Kakubo is not a stranger to corruption scandals.
Last year, photos of him collecting a parcel from a Chinese national in the car park at Sinoma cement plant also went viral on social media, but Mr Kakubo quickly dismissed the corruption allegations against him, claiming that the gift bag only contained calendars.
Even Mr Hichilema publicly rushed to Mr Kakubo’s defence during a press conference after the Sinoma cement plant incident.
From the above, it is evident that Mr Kakubo is a very corrupt individual who has been at it for some time now. He is a typical corrupt UPND breed whose actions are a shame and not acceptable in any sense.
But this does not surprise us at all because Mr Kakubo is not alone in his corrupt activities. This UPND government is corrupt to the core. It’s extremely rotten from the bottom to the top. It’s a very corrupt puppet regime, and they are not even as clever and sophisticated as they seem to think. These are shameless gluttons who don’t even care about the people they represent.
Even Mr Hichilema knows that he is heading a rotten and stinking government. No wonder he gave Mr Kakubo the luxury of resigning from government instead of firing him and getting him arrested. He shielded the disgraced Mr Kakubo from taking a walk of shame because he knows that he is not the only corrupt person in this administration.
To Mr Hichilema, Mr Kakubo is what maybe described as “his boy”. A trusted loyalist! And so, no matter what, Mr Hichilema is committed to protecting “his boy” by granting him a dignified exit despite the fact that he is a thief.
Where have you seen a thief, being given a choice of resigning after being caught in the middle of a crime? This can only happen if the master who sent him is equally guilty of the same crimes. The master is guilty, afraid, and has no moral right to condemn or even do anything about it, so out of shame, he is forced to negotiate a better way out of the mess with a thief. This here is the simple logic behind behind Mr Kakubo’s resignation.
For the record, Mr Kakubo must be arrested and prosecuted for corruption, and his assets seized as proceeds of crime, and Mr Hichilema must resign immediately for aiding and abetting corruption. The corruption scandals that have rocked this government in recent months are a reminder that the country is in corrupt hands and needs a breather. It is clear that this is a government of the thieves, for the thieves, and by the thieves. Nobody is clean and honest in this case!
Like this, how can Mr Hichilema be expected to genuinely fight corruption when there is so much grand corruption and looting surrounding him?
We have said this before, and we are repeating it, any meaningful fight against corruption in this country has to start with an investigation of Mr Hichilema’s own dealings in almost every sector of our economy like mining, fuel, fertilizer, insurance, grain imports and exports, property and real estate, construction and manufacturing, among many others.
There is a need to probe Mr Hichilema. He should be able to answer questions about his dealings. Without doing so, the fight against corruption becomes hypocritical, a facade and meaningless.
Any meaningful fight against corruption must start with an investigation of Mr Hichilema’s business interests and the government procurement and payment authorisation system.
Mr Musa Mwenye, the chairman of the Anti Corruption Commission and the US envoy to Zambia, Mr Michael Gonzales, have emphatically demanded that Mr Hichilema declares all his assets. Why?
The day Mr Hichilema is made to fully disclose all his business interests, without being able to conceal anything, will mark the beginning of the end of his presidency and the beginning of his journey to prison. Even Mr Hichilema knows this too well no wonder the resistance.
The amount of systemic corruption and plunder of state funds that is being facilitated by State House is terrifying and confirms the sad reality that this presidency is a terrible burden to our society.
We want to caution the citizens not cheat themselves into believing that they have a decent and corrupt free leadership, because the truth and the reality currently, is that most of the bribery, embezzlement, illicit enrichment, trading influence and all manner of abuses and white- collar financial and economic crimes that we are witnessing are engineered by State House.
All the powerful dirty deals we are seeing, hearing, and reading about in the media are the brainchild of State House. These deals are marinated, cooked, and served within the presidency. In short, the presidency is the command post of grand corruption and looting of public resources.
Under this presidency, procurement procedures and regulations have been totally paralyzed and they are going about their daily business with impunity, and without any oversight or regard for the moral, political and economic effects of their actions. This presidency is the most corrupt in the history of this country, and the presidential aides are the most incompetent, shady, and pathetically dishonest and corrupt of all.
They’re a deprived bunch who are distorting and eroding public trust and confidence in state institutions as well as damaging policy integrity.
With the presidency organizing and perpetuating this cancerous culture of corruption, it is wishful thinking to expect this regime to wage a relentless campaign against corruption and succeed or turn around the economy and improve the livelihoods of ordinary citizens.
These are incorrigible liars, manipulators, and fraudsters who have no interest whatsoever in the welfare of ordinary citizens. All they are interested in is power and money – to keep power and continue looting.
It’s just a matter of time before everything comes to the fore.
Crooks of all shapes and sizes have been assembled and unleashed on the people and the state coffers by Mr Hichilema.
Tuletekwa naba kabwalala!
Fred M’membe
President of the Socialist Party
You politicians you are losing me off. How can a private business transaction converted into corruption. And how can HH get involved into this transaction when it is private business. Yes S.K is a Minister and that is more reason why he has resigned from Government. So any right thinking politician cannot link President HH into this issue. You are losing me as a citizen.
Reflect back when Post News paper was closed, Prime TV Closed, and Kalaba resigned before he was fired, Kambwili fired, did we see all this fiasco of Lungu resigning??? I think we should stop misleading citizens because of mere politicking
Mmembe its too late for you to learn politics. At almost 70yrs old still failing to make solutions, but only useless comments like you are posting editorial comments. Instead of going around the country to sell your party, you are busy making noise in Lusaka only. Waste of time
Always existing as an opportunist, capitalizing on every availed issue he can handle. Ati HH should resign, resigning for what? That was Kakubo’s private family business which he owned since 2007 before even PF came into power.
At age 43,when did he amass wealth to own that mine ?When did he acquire that mine,was it before or after upnd victory in 2021 ?Zambia can do better ,wealth iis only in few people’s hands ,particularly politicians .This trend must be checked.No sensible enough politician must be enjoying hefty wealth in cash money and co when the majority of voters are failing to afford financial obligations .Why should voters elect politicians who only enjoy themselves while the people who put them there remain poorer than before ? Fair isnt it ?Hahaha….from Berlin
He should resign so that you can take over?? What have you done about your tax evasion?? Tax evasion is just as bad as corruption. You would be the worst person to get your fingers in the cookie can. Zambians would not make such a mistake to elect you into leadership.
Theres a rot happening in the country…The shortlisted companies to buy Mopani were China Zinin Mining Group, Norinco, Sibanje, and an Investment vehicle owned by ex- Glencore Plc officials.
From nowhere the President announces Dubai based International Resources Holdings (IRH) as the new owners of Mopani. Who negotiated this new deal when there were already Companies who had been shortlisted ? The named four companies even visited Mopani Copper Mines Plc to physically inspect the Mines. When did IRH visit the mine? Who in his right frame of mind can provide billions of dollars without feasibility studies? Or do we
have a stealth IRH presence in Zambia?
That’s Hakainde for you! The Mopani – IRH deal like so many deals ,the KCM plc deal the 120,000 hectares Mpika Mining Deal, and many others are in Hakainde’s pocket…He knows the terms , and these are the deals he is making outside the authorized negotiating teams , with his discredited Foreign Affairs Minister during his numerous trips abroad.
Dangle the 49% carrot to naive Zambians to prevent scrutiny, then a year later change this to 20%, and finally 3%. We are dealing with organized criminals.
Fred Mmembe, expose this corrupt regime. Things are not right. There’s massive thievery going on.
Fuledi the tax evading noise maker without any single solution to anything. Failing to remit statutory obligations and today you want to be president, what a joke. Actually you don’t deserve any leadership position anywhere. You and your ka Vaseline party are not going anywhere.
According to Fred everyone else is corrupt except himself. He labelled Kaunda, Chiluba, Mwanawasa Banda, Lungu and now Hichilema as corrupt. Zambians now know to well that Fred is just a sanctimonious demagogue who wants to exploit people’s passions to achieve selfish ambitions.
And this Fred M’membe is leader of a party that is supposed to get him the national presidency! Yabaa! Pure mediocrity has a hold on manly in the oppositions’ political rhetoric lyrics that one insert in the songs never changes no matter the tune and it is HH! Kakubo may have been under investigations who knows? The appointing authority thinks its time to learn from him and a decision is to be made and M’membe is already spewing his song with insertion of HH! Opposition leadership in Zambia te sana! No substance and followers it’s all about expecting “monetary benefits!”
Of course you are very right Fred. If it was in Sweden or Germany or even UK and France the president would have resigned by now over this big world scandal. But why is Joe Biden quite? In 2021 he was quick to tell the world ati “the corrupt Edgar Lungu government was defeated in Zambia . . . “, and Mr. Hichilema burst into laughter. Zambians were saying the president of USA embarrasses Zambia to the whole world and the president of Zambia bursts into laughter. Right now Joe Biden and his son are facing corruption charges. So why make stupid of other presidents when you are also corrupt? So we are waiting for Joe Biden to say “the corrupt Hichilema government . . . . “!
Kikikikiki. Hit them Fred. A collection of shameless looters.
1. Kakubo came out of SINOMA with a big envelope – that’s corruption! Really? Why didn’t people mind to investigate a bit more ? Even if ACC had started an investigation, what was supposed to be the clue on the case? Just a big envelope?
2. Kakubo obtains 200,000 $ from Chinese but fails to deliver a mine. Is this corruption? Isn’t this just a double dealing, far the Government funds. This will certainly be a civil case.
I once paid for a Steel gate at Kalingalinga but the welder supplied me with another one. When I took matter to police , I was told that this was a civil case rather than a criminal case.
Let’s be honest in our judgement, rather than politicizing any matter.
Ba Sense. Kabiyeni ku sukulu twapapata. Akulyenifye tondolo nempupu shinenu.
Fred Mmembe did you honestly study law? Cite what law you would use to arrest Kakubo? All we have is a statement the Chinese and his legal representitive. An allegation. The law enforcement agencies have said they will do their part to enforce the law. Kakuvo has his side of what happened. What we comment Mr. Kakubo is from resigning for bringing disrepute to the office of the Minister of Foriegn Affairs, something most people in his position would rather clammer to.
Mmembe should be embrassed to even open his mouth as he is responisble for rendering an institution insolvent …bankrupt and failing to pay taxes. A reason that he would have lost his qualification as an accountant had he finished ACCA. BUT he failed to qualify. Let some people do some introspection before they open their mouths.
Technically Speaking on the issue at hand, if a double payment was made on the same mine, this remains to be case to be addressed in a court of law. The aggrevied party would bring this case to the appropriate law enforcement agencies.
It is important to recognize that a company is sighted as an individual in business law and hence can be sued and can also sue.
The current status is of course not acceptable however it’s a matter which the individuals affected can use the available legal channels to deal with the facts of the case.
Shareholders and directors of the company will undoubtedly have to sit down and deal with this apparent anomaly and come up with a solution. I trust we have yet to hear more on this unfortunate bad business transaction.
For this reason, I think it is wise not to be too quick to assume that the individual and the company are one and the same thing.
It would be funny if the investor sues the accused in his personal capacity when the Contractual agreement was entered into with the Mining Company. These are basic legal issues which in time will be made plain.
Meantime a wrong is a wrong. It should not be compared to anything in the past but it should be allowed to stand the test of international business Standards. Where it falls short it must answer to it’s short comings. That’s the nature of the law.
In light of the above I salute this minister to take the initiative to resign so as to preserve the integrity of the team. This is maturity especially that not all facts have been disclosed. This is healthy and encouraging. A culture to be adopted as a way of walking the talk.