By Kombe Chimpinde Mataka
I CANNOT punish the people of Kwacha twice, says former foreign affairs minister Joseph Malanji.
Malanji, who had vowed there would be no by-election in Kwacha Constituency if he’s not allowed to stand, said claims that he was on rampage grabbing valuable items that he donated to communities when he served as member of parliament such as Bulangililo Clinic was political propaganda by UPND against him.
Some UPND members have gone on social media alleging that Malanj has grabbed equipment he donated to Bulangililo clinic and two buses from a named church.
“That is propaganda, they are trying to peddle around. The people of Kwacha have spoken, if you go and campaign all those days and then you get 10 per cent votes, and even that 10 per cent vote where was the 6,000 people because we did not see the people queue? Where were the 6,000 people?” he asked. “I am sure even from your informers, you can tell that they did not find three people, four people or five. There were even officials that were sleeping because there was no work to do. So surely how can I punish the people of Kwacha twice, [people] who have demonstrated loyalty to me by not going to vote because of injustice? How do I do that? All the projects which I started, I will finish them.”
Malanji said his team was working on tiling the clinic according to the specifications prescribed by the Ministry of Health.
“They told us the clinic must be well tiled. We are going to do that and handover the clinic to the community. In any case, I have given a lot of things in the constituency. How many things can I grab then? These things are still working and they will continue working for the people because we are looking at the majority, the 58,000 who stayed home. Those are the ones who we are looking at and I will render service to them because from the word go the mission statement of our constituency is community–pioneered development,” he said. “I will work with the community and make sure that we achieve our goals as per our initial intention.”
Malanji said that the decision by 58,000 voters to not turn up to vote was a protest.
“They have never seen an institution like ECZ overriding what the court has said. They have never seen that. You can actually get worried about where we are going. We must all get worried,” he said.
Malanji said he would issue a comprehensive statement very soon regarding the “hullaballoo” about him on social media.
He said he would soon engage the media on whether he would contest the PF presidency, whose applications closes on October 28.
And Malanji expressed shock after two UCZ churches in Kwacha East called to inform him that a group of police officers had arrived and demanded to see buses he had donated.
“A bus is not a VX worth a hundred thousand dollars. Those buses are worth K200,000. Can you not keep money and buy? I was a minister, did I not get a salary to keep and buy what I want for the church?” asked Malanji. “The Reverend is wondering why they should go to church to look for buses. They went to UCZ in Kwacha East and they have gone to UCZ Ipusukilo as we speak. So it means they have been given instructions to grab whatever was donated to the church. They want to claim it is proceeds crime. This is unacceptable.”