Hunting for ‘looted’ cash
IS history repeating itself?
President Hakainde Hichilema has elected to retrace the footsteps of the country’s third president, Levy Patrick Mwanawasa in trying to recover money allegedly stolen by his predecessor, President Frederick Chiluba.
That expedition saw the government spending more resources than the money they alleged was stolen. At the end of it all, it came to nothing.
Not a single accusation that President Mwanawasa made against his predecessor was ever proved.
The misadventure however took its toll on the individuals involved, the accusers and the accused https://epaper.dailynationzambia.com/public/
It would appear like in this country we are fine that pipo can steal at will knowing that nothing will happen to them. Some of our heads of state are keen to bring perpetrators to book but then we have this counter mindset. For me what Mwanawasa attempted to do was the correct thing only it did not yield the desired results. At least we even knew who the thieves were and are only that law also has its own way of looking at things. But thing is they stole and others are still in the same habit, all because they know they are more powerful the the law, by simply hiring lawyers to defend them. Difference is in the approach, so far we know how much has been forfeited to the state and my opinion is that it’s definitely way more than what has been used to get back these resources to the owners. I want to encourage current govt and all well meaning citizens not to relent against this fight to get back what was looted. How do you explain for instance, you contract a loan for the Lsk Ndola dual carriage way, contractor sought, money paid and not even a cm of the road was done. Definitely someone must and should be answerable and we don’t care what it takes to have culprits brought to book. Why do we appear to have a softer approach to thieves? Do we want to have this as a way of life of the pipo we entrust with public offices? Certainly not with some of us. Let the chaps be persued and a conclusive end be reached. We need to join hands as zambians and make sure those who would want to join public service think twice before joining.
These are write-ups who benefited from the loot.
What we want to know is how the loans were utilized. Who was behind the loot and ultimately, ask them to account.
Personally, I would rather we spend more money on bringing those who loot national resources even if what we recover is less. Especially if the culprits can be imprisoned.
We must send a very clear message that thieves and “uubomba mwibala alya mwibala” philosophy will not be tolerated. It is good for building the character of posterity. What is at stake is the future generation and values.
So let us pursue thieves relentlessly until potential thieves think twice before stretching out their sticky fingers. We should not make Zambia a looters’ paradise as was the case under Mr. Lungu’s PF.