By Isaac Zulu
Faustina Sinyangwe has said that UPND members of parliament and ministers that are expressing some inertia to declare their assets are being arrogant.
In an interview with Daily Revelation, Sinyangwe, who once served as Matero member of parliament in the Patriot Front government, has expressed surprise that some parliamentarians belonging to the UPND and Cabinet Ministers have not been willing to subject themselves to lifestyle audit, as prescribed by law.
“Really, I don’t know, I don’t know. These UPND members of parliament and ministers should do the right thing at the right time. If they claim to be transparent in all that they are doing, they should not shy away from declaring their assets,” explained Sinyangwe. “When I was member of parliament, we used to declare our assets for transparency and accountability purposes, because that is a legal requirement. It is for this reason that I find it surprising that some of members of parliament in the UPND administration are finding it difficult to be subjected to lifestyle audit.”
She stated that members of parliament and ministers that are expressing some inertia to declare their assets are being arrogant.
“When you are a leader, a political leader; you need to lead by example. But in the current government we have people that don’t want to be transparent and subjected to lifestyle audit. They have refused to move to ministerial houses that have been provided by government, they have refused to move to State House and they don’t want to get government salaries. This is being arrogant. Political leaders shouldn’t be arrogant. By doing what I have itemised, they are just telling the people that elected them that they cannot live at the same level with the electorate,” said Sinyangwe.
She further called for enhanced enforcement of laws pertaining to lifestyle audit among public officials.
“And I am just wondering why the law enforcers are being reluctant to enforce the law on members of parliament and ministers to declare their assets. I can only urge our law enforcement officers to ensure that this law pertaining to the declaration of assets is enforced to the latter,” said Sinyangwe.
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