PATRICK Mucheleka says some 2016 ‘illegal ministers’ are being bailed out of their debt to the State by proxies is a case of plain money laundering.
Out of the 64 ministers and their deputies who collectively owe the State over K4 million for illegally remaining in office after the dissolution of Parliament in May 2016, only Harry Kalaba and Ronald Chitotela have fully refunded their allocated debt, with no associated fuss.
Last week, Green Party president Peter Sinkamba, out of ‘benevolence,’ made part payments of K30,000 and K25,000 for former Copperbelt Province minister Mwenya Musenge and home affairs minister and Shiwang’andu PF member of parliament Stephen Kampyongo, respectively.
Musenge’s full debt is K56,058.30 while Kampyongo owes the State K60,434.88.
According to the Sunday Mail of December 20, National Revolution Party (NRP) president Cosmo Mumba has pledged to help two ministers of his choice to refund the government.
Cosmo is expected to pay back today.
On Friday, Lusaka resident George Kakana ‘overpaid’ a K60,000 to cancel the debt for fisheries and livestock minister and Munali PF member of parliament Professor Nkandu Luo’s K58,681.80.
Reacting to the matter, Mucheleka, the UPND deputy secretary general for politics, said: “you can tell that this is a ploy.”
“They are using stolen money and giving that money to their friends [to pay back on their behalf]. They are being cleaned up and you can tell that it’s stolen money from PF, giving to their corrupt friends,” Mucheleka said in an interview.
“They are pretending as if somebody is paying back for them! But the good part is that the Zambians know, whilst I may sympathise with my brother Musenge…Genuinely, he needs help.”
He indicates that Sinkamba’s act towards Kampyongo, “actually raises a moral question.”
“Is he (Sinkamba) not aware that where he lives in Kitwe and even within our country, there are so many people who are orphaned? Children have been chased from school – they have not been able to write exams for non-payment of tuition fees,” Mucheleka noted. “Those are the people perhaps he could have bailed out. But honestly for Peter Sinkamba to do that for Kampyongo, it raises a serious moral question which he has to answer. What message is he sending to the people of Zambia?”
Mucheleka stressed that what is going on is a scheme.
“This is money that has been stolen and they give to their corrupt friends to pay on their behalf, because they (owing ministers) want to give an impression like they have no money,” he explained. “Surely, Cosmo Mumba saying he is going to pay for someone; give the Zambian people a break! It’s actually a very big insult to the intelligence of the people of Zambia. We are being insulted by PF!”
Mucheleka emphasised his disappointment with Sinkamba, especially for paying for Kampyongo.
“I had so much regard and respect for Peter Sinkamba. But with this particular action, I don’t know whether or not he deserves my respect. The truth of the matter is that they are insulting our intelligence [because] this is money that has been stolen,” Mucheleka said. “It’s actually plain money laundering, if you like! This is stolen money being given to friends to pretend as if somebody is bailing them out. Cosmo Mumba is the one who can pay for two people? Give Zambians a break!”
He further pointed out that because of the circus: “these fellows in PF” have introduced, “they deserve to be kicked out through the ballot.”
“It’s good that the people of Zambia have seen through their money laundering activities. The people are very determined to effect change, come August 2021,” said Mucheleka, a former Lubansenshi independent member of parliament.
“They are grinding the country to a halt through money laundering and bad governance, in general. The people of Zambia must kick out these fellows and start afresh.”