By Kombe Mataka
LUNTE PF member of parliament Mutotwe Kafwaya says someone is sitting at the edge of their seat to make sure PF officials and anyone associated with it is convicted of corruption.
And Kafwaya says he is eligible to stand for presidency both at party and national level.
Kafwaya, a PF presidential aspirant, told The Mast that the Executive must stay in their lane and stop interfering in the operations of the investigative wings.
“It is like someone is sitting at the edge over these cases. But they should stay in their lane. It’s not their job and for me, I learnt to stay in my lane. Everything I would do, when I served in various positions, would be in the confines of my responsibility. If everyone stays in their lane, the fight against corruption is going to be easy. They are not going to act inappropriately because there is nobody giving pressure to another. Not where someone enters a nolle prosequi and the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) is asked to re-arrest and take back the case to court,” Kafwaya said. “It does not look clear to you because you have taken a position. You have taken a position that he is a criminal… There is no one who is a criminal prior to being convicted. This is what we are saying. You cannot call me a criminal. I am innocent until proven guilty by the competent court of jurisdiction. For most of these people who are associated with PF including us PF members, you are even calling us a criminal organisation. This is incorrect. It is immoral and it shouldn’t even happen. You have no right to say that until someone is convicted.”
He said people must not rush in criticising the decisions of the Director of Public Prosecutions Lillian Siyunyi without understanding factors accompanying such a decision.
“How did the DPP enter a nolle prosequi? What you are not asking is how was he arrested [former KCM provisional liquidator Milingo Lungu]. How coherent were the testimonies placed before the DPP entered a nolle prosequi? The DPP is there and is a public officer, that is when you conclude the matter but the problem is that the position is that that guy is guilty and he should be jailed! Go online and see those media organisations which are housed at State House. Go and see what Koswe has written? Go and see what [Zambian] Watchdog has written. I am used to seeing what they wrote…” he said.
“Let us be clear. Don’t take a position because your position may be wrong and formed on inadequate information. And that is where I was saying let police arrest on their own. If police are not forced on me, they will never arrest me when they arrest me, it’s because they will be coming with a legitimate issue which will have a high chance of success in the courts of law. But if you just push them because they are at your mercy, you can push one judge, push another one, but maybe at another person, you will become stuck and find there are no issues. And then the public will say ‘he was properly arrested, even after being found guilty at a lower court by somebody more independent and with a higher standard of morality.”
Kafwaya said it was in public domain that the investigative wings were moved to State House. “But under what law was that done? It has never happened. DEC has always been under home affairs,” he said. “Create an environment where these institutions operate with their law apparatus as opposed to operating with men so that we create a better society. Anybody can come into conflict with the law and anybody can become anyone’s enemy at any point.”
And Kafwaya said those that worked under him could testify that he was the right calibre to take the PF forward.
“You can go to Cancer Diseases Hospital where I worked for four years. You can go to Ndeke House where I worked for some years. You can go to ministry of works and supply. You can go to Ministry of Transport where I served until we lost. People will not tell you now that just because I worked responsibly I was not able to produce results. I produce clean results,” he said. “In political leadership it is very different. It is not the political leadership that decides who should be president. It is the people you are leading who assess your suitability. And the people you are leading should be able to say that is our leader not saying I am supposed to be a leader. I have good number of supporters who have called upon me to contest the presidency and I have looked at my qualifications in terms of that position and I do think the call by those many supporters is justified. The experience I have, the mentality that I have, the level at which I have served and also my focus on service, I thought that getting such a promotion from people is good enough. It is an expansion of my capacity to serve at a broader scale.”
Kafwaya said Zambia required leadership.
“I have to offer hope. Zambia as a country requires leadership which is local, people centred as opposed to foreign centred. Yes, I am going to contest the PF presidency. Both from the national Constitution perspective and the PF constitution perspective, I qualify,” said Kafwaya.
“The loss of elections in August [2021] should be an opportunity for us in PF to reflect where we disappointed the people. If a chance ever arose for PF to be in the driving seat again, we will have a high chance of avoiding them. You can tell right now that the mistakes PF were making are very similar to those that people are complaining about the UPND. This morning [Tuesday] I was reading of a minister who went to park a GRZ vehicle at a night club and boasting that they had money to go and campaign in a ward by-election.”