By Edwin Mbulo in Livingstone
THE time to celebrate thieves is gone, says Luxon Kazabu.
Kazabu, who was deputy minister of livestock and fisheries in the Michael Sata administration, says those that have been arrested did not steal for the PF but for themselves and therefore must not hide behind the former ruling party.
Kazabu said PF members were now claiming to be victims when the actual victims are Zambians whose resources were vandalised.
“The time to celebrate thieves is gone. It is now time to celebrate people who have made outstanding contributions to society. That is why
now the ACC (Anti-Corruption Commission) which was moribund during the PF regime have now found very sharp teeth to bite and they are biting,” he told The Mast.
“So, it will not do and it does not matter how much they cry victim because whoever chose to take away the people’s resources must face the law.”
He said home affairs minister Jack Mwiimbu needed to be supported for pledging to pursue vigorously whoever chose to take away people’s resources.
“In fact, the wheels of ACC have been very slow in
turning and as such they may have created space for some of the criminals to try anything possible to hide that which they stole. But, perhaps, unfortunately for them money trails cannot be hidden,” Kazabu said.
“Money moved from point A to B can be trailed. So, well done to ACC because now they are justifying why the institution was created, unlike the way
they were behaving under the previous regime where we saw a lot of people amass a lot of resources within a blink of an eye. But, as the
saying goes, that which goes up must come down.”
He said PF leaders amazed him because they wanted to pretend that they did not do wrong things during their tenure.
Kazabu noted that during the PF era anyone arrested was detained without bond for as long as the government wished, and that no visitations from lawyers or relatives were allowed.
He cited the case of Ackson Sejani and four others who were denied visits during their five-month detention.
“For them (PF), I think they must thank some of us who went into the trenches to remove them from power because that is what has brought them the right to be given bond and visitations in cells, which did not happen during their term. And one would think that if they had morality, they would be ashamed for what they did to many Zambians and take time to find courage and offer an honest apology as opposed to crying victims,” said Kazabu.
“We don’t want to think of what they did to members of the opposition but they are there in public domain, including bena Sean Tembo who now wants to champion criticism against an innocent regime. He himself was battered by the PF. He was battered by PF and I don’t understand it. It is like they were not there and now because of this new atmosphere of freedom created by President Hakainde Hichilema and the UPND,
everybody now is a champion in terms of criticism even where it is not warranted. And some of them now are going beyond a point where they are now committing crimes.”