By Ulande Nkomesha
LEADER of the opposition in Parliament Brian Mundubile says the premature arrests and announcements about perceived corruption cases have destroyed families.
Addressing the media at Parliament, Tuesday, Mundubile said the fight against corruption had turned into political persecution.
“There is no fight against corruption, there is just political persecution. You don’t fight corruption loudly. If you put systems in place, you have got institutions in place, if Mundubile is corrupt even without putting him on TV, the ACC will move in, investigate, take him to court and prosecute him. So what we are seeing is just drama, trying to hoodwink the people that something is being done. The worry that I have, normally we have seen this before, when you see that drama happening, just know that there is very little happening elsewhere. This is just to keep people busy and also to try to dent [PF’s image]. The major effort there is trying to dent the PF as a corrupt political party. But that would not work,” he said.
“PF is just a club with individual members belonging to that club. Even as you have UPND as a club, you have corrupt elements within that club. You could have corrupt elements within the PF. So as opposed to painting the entire party black or the entire political membership black, come up with credible evidence and follow individuals that may be corrupt so that the law takes its course. This wholesome shotgun approach where you want everybody shot at, everybody detained, so that in the minds of the Zambian people they believe that this is a corrupt party, that will not work. Sooner or later these cases have to be taken to court, people have to adduce evidence against these people that have been arrested.”
He said premature arrests and announcements about perceived corruption cases had just destroyed families for nothing.
“So they should also look at the backlash, what will happen when these cases go to court, these people are acquitted and so on? My argument on the fight against corruption has been the same that strengthen systems that fight corruption. First of all, strengthen systems that stop corruption from happening in the first place. The only statements that we should be hearing are that so and so has been convicted of some corrupt practices.
Premature arrests and announcements have just destroyed families for nothing. People that have been arrested on camera, publicized and later there is no evidence against these people, and there is no way of atoning the damage that you cause on these innocent individuals,” Mundubile said.
He said the UPND had failed to deliver many campaign promises despite being in government for three months.
“When the Zambian people voted for the UPND, they had certain expectations, if those have been met, then they will instill confidence in the people. So one of the things to look at when you are looking at leadership is integrity and when you talk about integrity, it is being able to sustain your position or fulfill promises that you make. Has the UPND done that? The Zambian people were of the view that President Hichilema knows what he is talking about, he is going to improve the economy.
Now we are three, four months in now, one would argue and say this is too soon to judge them. We want to judge them based on their policy statements that they are making. Is there a provision in the budget that points to a reduction in fuel prices? The answer is no! Is there anything in the budget that citizens will be paid K1,500 [increment]? The answer is no,” said Mundubile. “What has happened so far, the party manifesto, the President’s maiden speech, the budget and many other policy statements, we already had a picture of what 2022 is going to be. So you don’t have to wait until December 2022 to evaluate the performance of these people. So we have a general picture, it may even get worse, it can’t get better. I want to ask them one question, they have only been in government for three months, there are so many promises they haven’t fulfilled. Why is that UPND was in a hurry to implement the promises that they made to the mining companies and they are not in a hurry to implement the promises that they made to the Zambian voter?”
Credit: News Diggers