I’ll not sell my soul, apologise and withdraw the truth – Mundubile
By Kombe Chimpinde Mataka
PARLIAMENT was on Tuesday charged when it considered estimates of expenditure for the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) as members of parliament took turns in stripping each other through their debates concerning the fight against corruption.
During the heated debated, Mporokoso PF member of parliament Brian Mundubile told second deputy Speaker that “I will not sell my soul. I will not apologise and withdraw the truth I as leader of opposition, member of parliament for Mporokoso, elected to come hear and speak the truth”.
The chairperson of the committee on supply and estimates, Moses Moyo had a rough time maintaining order as MPs butted each other’s debates through points of order.
Tempers had already flared up after the House earlier electronically voted to pass the Ministry of Health budget when the opposition expressed reservations against it.
Debate on the ACC commenced with a policy statement by leader of government business in House Vice-President Mutale Nalumango who announced that the ACC had only secured eight convictions in the year 2021.
Leader of the opposition in the House Brian Mundubile, who led the debate, said the ACC was not paying attention to current corruption but the wrongs committed under the previous regime.
“I was talking about meticulous and methodical corruption in government and I was bringing to the attention of the Anti-Corruption Commission, not to narrow the subject (corruption). Anti-Corruption Commission, you must be suspicious. A bill is brought to parliament, committees recommend against it and a minister is adamant on the floor. So when I talk about policy, legislation and administration, those are some of the things that we are referring to,” Mundubile said. “Mr chairperson, we must also look at appointments. When appointments are made in such a way that you could by-pass controls, because of patronage, that is the beginning of corruption. There must be controls in institutions. The moment you see certain appointments, it already shows you the direction the government is going to take. No wonder Mr chairperson you have instances where a top government leader is seen with a heavy baggage carrying heavy calendars and a report is made and that is at the end of the year, those calenders given at the end of the year! Somebody takes interest and takes a video of that particular transaction and when it is sent, the Head of State simply makes a call. Are you sure we are committed to the fight against corruption? What does that do to the institution that is fighting corruption?”
Moyo, the second deputy Speaker, however cautioned Mundubile that standing orders 65 and 66 prohibited members of parliament to refer to the Head of State in the context he had done, before he allowed Mundubile to proceed with his debate.
“Leaders who are meant to fight or lead the fight against corruption simply go to the media and say ‘I called the minister and he said there was nothing in there’. That is the end of that particular case. Is that the way we are going to fight corruption? Right now the debate on the floor is the shortage of drugs. Anti-Corruption Commission, you may wish to know that the delay in the procurement of drugs is because somebody somewhere seated would like to single source friendly companies to supply drugs at the expense of poor Zambians who are suffering out there and dying every day due to lack of drugs. You have money, you have a budget approved and yet drugs are not procured because somebody would like to single source companies that are friendly too them,” he said. “The UPND is the only party which believes in two modes of procurement. Single sourcing and limited bidding. ACC we want to call upon you, can you take a schedule of the procurement that has happened the last 12 months and find out how these procurements have been done. No wonder we have leaders who are awarding themselves contracts in audit of defence forces. Anti-Corruption Commission take interest.”
Mundubile said ACC ought to look at why ministers were not declaring interest in contracts where they clearly had an interest.
“And every day we see you running around making statements when the real corruption is right behind you,” he said. “The fight against corruption must be real starting from the top.”
Mundubile said it was “a notorious fact” that the contract offered to Alpha Commodities amounting to US $50 million was single sourced.
“The contract of a $100 million, of procurement of health posts was single sourced. It is in public domain,” he said.
Following a point of order from the government, Moyo said single sourcing and limited bidding were all legal means provided for procuring of public goods and services.
“What is of context is you have alleged that government officials are involved. Can you substantiate that?” asked chairperson.
In response, Mundubile said the shareholders of Grant Thornton are top leaders of the UPND.
“That is the evidence and Grant Thornton was single sourced to do audits in the defence forces,” he argued.
But Moyo said Mundubille should withdraw his statement, if he wanted to continue debating.
“Mr speaker, I will be unfair to the Zambian people just because some members are uncomfortable with the facts. I will not sell my soul. I will not apologise and withdraw the truth I as leader of opposition, member of parliament for Mporokoso, elected to come hear and speak the truth,” Mundubile said.
“Let us not trivialise the decorum of the House. Why are we trivialising the decorum of the House? If we are going to call every debate, every junk …it’s not in dispute. Minister of Youth and Sports paid for a plane that never arrived. They paid colossal sums of money for a plane that never arrived. That is the corruption that we are talking about. We have a situation on the Copperbelt, Mopani and KCM, the UPND when in opposition, said they had plans for these two mines. Mr Speaker, I was on the Copperbelt a few days ago. I could not help, I amlost broke down, to look at the suffering of the people on the Copperbelt because of these two mines and already manoeuvres coming out are that decisions that are being made concerning these mines may not be as transparent. ACC, I want you to take interest.”
Rising on a point of order, water development minister Mike Mposha claimed that Mundubile was misleading the country by claiming that a plane chattered by the Ministry of Sports and paid for had not been used.
Mwinilunga UPND member of parliament Newton Samakayi said President Hakainde Hichilema was serious about the fight against corruption.
“The President needs the support of all us in this House and the support of generally the people out there because the people would want the officers and politicians that have been put in these officers to prudently manage their resources,” he said.
Samakayi also called for a bill to do with a lifestyle audit.
“And they (opposition) refused. The former vice-president (Inonge Wina) stood here and vehemently opposed to bring the bill on lifestyle audit. We want to urge Anti-Corruption Commission that you must initiate the lifestyle audit so that the Minister of Justice could bring this bill to this House. There are no games about fighting corruption. It doesn’t matter whether you are on the left of the Speaker or right of the Speaker, we should all support,” he said.
“There is no need for politicians and state actors to fill in forms to declare their properties and liabilities and to go and file with the judges, there is no system. If I report today that my net worth is K9 million, five years later or three years later I am at K25 or K30 million there is no system to check how have I moved from K9 million to K30 or K35 million. There is no system. So that law on declaration of assets is moribund as far as I am concerned because there are no mechanisms to check how people are accumulating wealth. And that is why we are advocating that the lifestyle audit bill must come here. I know you are quiet. All of you are quiet. Those who have gone and those who are there now you are quiet on the audit bill. It has to come here. It is in the interest of the public that this bill must come to the House so that we pass it.”
Samakayi said whether in opposition or the ruling party, those engaging in corruption must not be supported as the vice was deterring development.
“Whether you did it 10 years ago or two years ago when you were in PF or doing it in UPND, you have to account,” said Samakayi.
Nalolo PNUP member of parliament Imanga Wamunyima said the eight convictions recorded by ACC in 2021 as highlighted in the policy statement was worrying.
Bweengwa UPND member of parliament Michelo Kasauta rattled the members on the left when he said criminals were present even the House.
“We are tired of sitting with criminals even in in this House. We are not happy. We want all the people who are corrupt to go to jail,” Kasauta said. “The moment we do that you are going to see that people will start running away from stealing Zambian people’s money. If you see people standing, just know they are guilty. We want the guilty to go to jail. We don’t want them to keep enjoying money which they stole from the Zambian people.”
But rising on a point of order Lunte PF member of parliament Mutotwe Kafwaya challenged Kasauta to stop misleading the ACC that they should first begin fighting corruption in the past before coming to the present.
“Do you begin sweeping the house from the bedroom even when there is faecal matter on the veranda? You jump faecal matter and go to the bedroom? Faecal matter such as the one $100 million …” asked Kafwaya.
Chama South PF member of parliament Davison Mung’andu said the trend of prosecuting officers only going for people after they have left office was an act of promoting corruption by the ACC.
Kawambwa PF member parliament Nickson Chilangwa drew the House and ACC to the issue of ministers that are allegedly living in their private homes yet drawing housing allowance from the government.
“It is unacceptable, Anti-Corruption Commission must be asked to investigate. How is it that Community House security has been enhanced, under which vote? That must investigated,” urged Chilangwa.
Meanwhile, local government minister Gary Nkombo said corruption fight was not an easy one because crooks were usually lethal but assured that prosecution would be done based on evidence.
“If today I soil myself in the office that I run as many soiled themselves when they were collecting government contracts and they are seated in here as I am talking, we just cancelled, chairperson, all these contracts because they started playing games saying ‘we have broken through’. We cancelled all of them. So let us see how they got these contracts and we will invite them to the ACC,” said Nkombo.