By Isaac Zulu
MMD leader Nevers Mumba has said that his party is concerned with the way law enforcement agencies are managing the fight against corruption.
Dr Mumba says the UPND administration is taking the same approach that the MMD took in fighting corruption, which he said made the former ruling party fail to record successes in the fight against graft.
“The UPND is using the same way that that the MMD used to fight corruption. And because of that the MMD lost the fight against corruption. We are equally concerned about this issue. And our proposal is that they need to change the direction and the fight against corruption,” Dr Mumba said. “Corruption cases should be dealt with expeditiously but professionally. Like the President said during the press conference, the case should be disposed off within three months. It’s either the accused person is convicted and sent to jail or acquitted.”
He backed the decision taken by the UPND administration to cancel the procurement of fertiliser under the Farmer Input Support Programme, saying “the procurement of farming inputs in the PF was flawed with corruption.”
“From the information our colleagues in government have shared with us is that they were shocked that the whole value chain from procurement to distribution of fertiliser was characterised with a lot of irregularities,” he said.
On the economic front Dr Mumba said that the UPND administration has positioned itself on the right path to restructuring the country’s debt and stabilise the economy.
“We are coming from a situation where our economic growth was at 2 per cent. In the previous regime the country’s economy had almost crushed with a huge external debt that was unsustainable,” Dr Mumba said, adding that the UPND government has made strides to correct the situation.
On international relations, Dr Mumba said that, as a former diplomat, he feels that Zambia still enjoys cordial relations with both China and the United States of America.
“I don’t believe in the issue of saying that Zambia has gone to the West. We have always been aligned to both the West and East. I am not the UPND spokesperson, but as MMD president who also served as High Commissioner to Canada. Bilateral relations are important in economic diplomacy. And both China and the USA are considered as strategic partners in development,” said Dr Mumba.
He also defended President Hakainde Hichilema over the delay to recall all individuals that were deployed in foreign missions by the PF government, saying “the Head of State is just being objective.”
Dr Mumba was speaking during ZNBC TV programme dubbed “Frank Talk,” monitored by Daily Revelation.
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