QUESTIONABLE COMPENSATIONS UNDER UPND ANGER MWANZA
….As he expresses his displeasure with the conduct of the Attorney General in the matter
Lusaka, Wednesday, November 29, 2023
Smart Eagles
With cries from ordinary Zambians escalating day in day out amid what one would describe as “early Christmas” bonuses dished out to those aligned to UPND in the name of compensations, Socialist Party (SP) Deputy General Secretary Antonio Mwanza has castigated the Attorney General Mulilo Kabesha over his conduct.
As though it is not the same government which claimed to have inherited empty coffers upon being elected into power in 2021, it has on the other hand continued compensating its officials and close associates, a move which stakeholders have bemoaned and called white color plunder.
Among the people to be compensated is Hon Frank Tayali, Minister of Transport and Logistics who gets to walk away with K450,000 plus K80,000 as damages.
Furious about unfortunate happenings which are occurring at a time when majority Zambians are wallowing in abject poverty, Mr Mwanza warned that the Attorney General has set a very bad precedence.
“It is a wrong precedence that the Attorney General is creating. The Attorney General’s role is to defend the state. And in doing so he must see to it that the cases come to a logical conclusive end that to enter into this default judgement. He has set a very dangerous precedence,” he said.
“Tomorrow when those ordinary Zambians that have sued the state are not compensated, are not given these hefty compensations, what will be the position of the Attorney General. He has weakened himself, he has weakened his office.”
He has wondered what would happen to some individuals serving in the civil service who have allegedly been unfairly dismissed by the government of angels.
Mr Mwanza cited some senior police officers as the people among those that were unfairly dismissed.
“But he has set a precedence that he will not be able to contain. Because I know of a number of Zambians that have sued the state for compensation. We are talking about police officers who were unfairly dismissed by this government. This government has dismissed over 25 senior police officers. And as we are speaking right now over 20 police officers have sued the state for unlawful dismissal,” he said.
“Why is he not entering default judgement for those police officers who have sued for illegal dismissals? Why is the Attorney General not entering default judgement for the numerous directors from different ministries of this government that have sued this government for unlawful dismissal? So he set a precedence that will be very difficult for him and for the country.”
He cried that the Attorney General has let Zambians down.
“Because now, all these people that UPND government is unlawfully dismissing, they are all going to rise up and demand that they need their money. And do we as a country have money to be dishing out… I think the Attorney General is letting the state down because his role is to defend the matter until the very end. As it is, he is not defending the state, he is defending UPND,” he said.