HOW RICH IS LUNGU?
…Sensele asks ECZ to disclose Lungu’s worth in 2016
By Edwin Mbulo in Livingstone
PLEASE tell us how rich Edgar Lungu is as of last year compared to K2.5 million in 2015 to K23.7 million in 2016, Paul Sensele has challenged the ECZ.
Sensele who is former Livingstone district commissioner and now a member of the NDC central committee, said Zambians deserve to know if Lungu is living within his means or using suspected proceeds of crime.
In 2015 Lungu declared a paltry K2.5 million and could not afford to raise the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) presidential nomination fees, forcing late Alexander Chikwanda to bail him out.
In 2016 Lungu declared a total of K23.7 million as his total net worth, the official presidential salary was at that time estimated to have been around K37, 296.58
This meant that after 18 months in office Lungu would have saved K671,338.44.
At that time President Hakainde Hichilema as an opposition leader declared that he was worth K73.16 million.
Last year, the ECZ claimed that asset declarations could only be accessed or released by the Supreme Court.
But responding to The Mast solicitation for disclosure of declaration of assets for presidential candidates, then acting chief justice Michael Musonda said such records these were by law kept by the ECZ chairperson, in this case justice Esau Chulu.
But Sensele said Zambians deserved to know the declared assets of leaders.
“We all appreciate the efforts being made to recover stolen money by President Hakainde Hichilema and he must be commended for this effort. But one thing that the Electoral Commission of Zambia is doing is not helpful to us, they have kept the declaration of assets by Edgar Lungu a secret,’’ he said. ‘’We want to know how much worth he was in 2021 from K23.7 million in 2016. We are still alive to the fact that he jumped from K2.5 million in 2015 to this figure (K23.7 million) in just 18 months. So, how much rich did he get in five years from 2016 if he could be over K20 million in just a year and six months?’’
He added that the ECZ would do good to publish all declarations by all those who contested for the presidency as well as all those that contested as members of parliament.
“If this will be too much for them to do at once, let them do it in phases starting with the presidential candidates and split the parliamentary declarations into provinces. It is not rocket science that Zambia has not attained to just tabulate what A, B, C, D and E owned as at August 2021,’’ Sensele said. ‘’We are of the opinion that PF and Edgar Lungu told the ECZ not to publish their declarations because Zambians were going to know that his riches were possibly benefits of crime and that he was not living within his means, especially that the UPND had complained of Lungu’s 2015 versus the 2016 worthiness. Please, prove us wrong and tell us how rich Edgar Lungu is.”
He further urged Edgar Lungu to come forward and state his worthiness if the ECZ delayed.
“But if the ECZ delays I urge Mr former president to come out in the open and tell us how much he declared in 2021. If he wants, he can call me and I will relay what he is worth to Zambians,” said Sensele.