RAMPANT CORRUPTION WILL GET UPND VOTED OUT – LUBINDA

RAMPANT CORRUPTION WILL GET UPND VOTED OUT – LUBINDA

PF acting President Given Lubinda says in addition to the UPND government’s poor governance record, Zambians will also vote them out due to rampant corruption.

Meanwhile, Lubinda says people will know his stance regarding his presidential ambitions once the body of the late former president Edgar Lungu is put to rest.

Lubinda was reacting to remarks by UPND Director General for Media under the Presidential Support Programme (PSP), Frank Bwalya, who said corruption was not one of the things that Zambians would use to vote out the UPND.

In an interview, Wednesday, Lubinda said Bwalya’s statement suggests to Zambians that in addition to corruption, there are actually more reasons why the UPND must be voted out.

“What Frank Bwalya is actually doing is telling the Zambian people that in addition to the corruption of the UPND, there are actually more reasons why the UPND must be voted out. In his statement in the article that I read today in your newspaper, Frank Bwalya is saying the people are complaining about the high cost of living and the people are complaining about load shedding, but they are not complaining about corruption. What that means is that he himself is aware of the fact that in addition to the high cost of living and in addition to the load shedding, there are also issues that people may not have told him,” he said.

“And Frank Bwalya must be reminded that the Zambian people are not capable of speaking, especially against the UPND, because whoever speaks against the UPND is arrested. People now are speaking in little corners, and he has not heard that because people are afraid. When people talk about load shedding and they talk about the cost of living, they are not pointing at any individual. The moment people start to speak about corruption, then they are talking about individuals, and that will be turned into hate speech. So I would like to remind Bwalya that unfortunately, they are not hearing what the people are saying because they have decided to gag the citizens using the Cybercrime law”.

Lubinda said Zambians were concerned about corruption cases, such as the Airport Gold scandal, and others that have not been fully addressed.

“The Zambian people are concerned about the Airport Gold scandal. Up to now, Zambians are still asking who was involved in that ‘Goldgate’ scandal. Where is that fake gold? Where is the $5.6 million that was found on that plane? People are asking why that corruption case was handled behind cameras in court. Why didn’t they hear that matter in open court? Why didn’t they take reporters? Why didn’t they take ZNBC to go and cover that case for the public to follow in the same manner that they got ZNBC to cover Edgar Lungu’s eligibility case? In the same manner that they got cameras to cover the witchcraft ‘chameleon’ case, people are asking why they were hiding that court case,” Lubinda said.

“Zambians are still asking who was involved with those containers that were cased at a private yard after the Zambian taxpayer paid a colossal amount of money to import those drugs. Why was there a lack of disclosure on the company that supplied those drugs? Why did the minister mislead the Zambian people that those drugs were bought on a government-to-government contract when the truth of the matter was that they were bought from a private company? The Zambian people are asking who is it who is exporting their power to Botswana because it is not Zesco that is exporting. Who is pocketing the money from the sale of power to Botswana and Congo? The Zambian people are asking questions about ZAMMSA. Who was involved in ZAMMSA? Why are heads not rolling? The Zambian people are asking questions about all these scandals that we are hearing about”.

Lubinda insisted that in addition to the UPND government’s poor governance record, Zambians would also vote them out due to rampant corruption.

“Now, former priest, my former parish priest Frank Bwalya must be informed that unfortunately, they will not hear these questions because the people are threatened to speak out publicly. But the truth of the matter is that in addition to the poor governance record of the UPND government, the Zambians will vote this government out also [because of] the rampant corruption”.

“We have heard about how government people were extorting money from small-scale miners in North-Western Province and yet nobody has been brought to book. We have heard about how the Americans have told us that this government paid $20 million to Tanzania to export maize which didn’t come. Who stole that $20 million?” he asked.

“We have been told about the $80 million which was sent to a wrong account in China. Who sent it? Why did they send it to a wrong account? Can the whole sovereign state called Zambia, with all the systems it has, make such a foolish mistake as to send $80 million to a wrong account in China? All these questions are being asked by people, but they are asking them behind closed doors”.

“They will not talk about them in the newspaper; they will not talk about them on social media because everybody is scared that the moment they just point a finger and say this government is corrupt, they will be arrested for hate speech. Even as I speak now, I’m saying it because I don’t mind whether they decide to arrest me or not. But for the majority of Zambians, they have been gagged”.

He added that if Bwalya thinks the people’s silence means they are content with the government’s governance, he is totally wrong.

“And if Frank Bwalya thinks that the silence of the people means that the people are content with their governance, he is totally wrong. This is the reason why in any thriving democracy, the government allows people to express themselves so that they hear the views of the people. We are extremely happy that they have gagged the people because now the people are bottling up. And come elections in 2026, then Frank Bwalya will realise that the people actually knew about the corruption that is taking place in the UPND regime,” Lubinda said.

Meanwhile, when asked for his thoughts on suggestions that he is the right person to lead the PF and the Tonse Alliance, Lubinda said people will know his stance regarding his ambitions once Lungu is laid to rest.

“People must rest their ambitions; they must hold on to their ambitions until after we lay President Edgar Lungu’s remains to rest, and as for me, I am going to do just that. In the event that at the meeting to be held on September 20, the Central Committee of the Patriotic Front decides that people can start making their applications, then people will be at liberty to announce their ambitions. So, that question, please keep it to yourself until such a time that the Patriotic Front has decided that they have opened for people to express their ambitions. That is when you will know where I stand,” said Lubinda.

“For now, I just want to say thank you to those people who have told you that they think that I’m the best person to lead the PF and to lead the Tonse Alliance. I’m grateful to them for their kind thoughts, but I will only make my position known when the time is right. Now I’m concentrating on doing what is most important: holding the party together and holding the Tonse Alliance together. Until such a time that all of us have agreed that now the race is open, I’m not going to start running in a race before the referee blows the whistle”.

News Diggers