By Isaac Zulu
Fred M’membe is implying that only Bembas and Lozis are capable of governing this country, says Local Government minister Garry Nkombo.
And Nkombo said he has files on his desk showing how fraudulent road contracts were awarded to PF officials, including one where the former parliamentary candidate in Kapiri was allowed to indicate that he was working on 28 kilometers instead of 23 kilometers.
Speaking when handling over CDF marketeers’ grants in Kapiri Mposhi district, Nkombo said that tribal politics is divisive and should be encouraged in a modern democracy.
“I am now addressing Dr Fred M’membe. This Bemba courage, Lozi wisdom narrative should not be encouraged. And I am telling you people gathered here that you should reject such leaders. We have about 72 tribes in this country, and this narrative being propagated by Dr Fred M’membe is implying that only two tribes are capable of providing leadership in this country. The Bemba courage and Lozi wisdom will not take us anyway. This is divisive. And practicing tribal politics should not be encouraged in a modern democracy,” Nkombo said.
And Nkombo said that the Patriot Front government used to give roads contracts to individuals that were aligned to PF officials.
He disclosed that he has files on his table containing names of PF aligned contractors, who were getting feeder road contracts in a fraudulent manner.
Nkombo explained that in most instances the figures in the Bill of Quantities (BOQs) were inflated, leading to government losing huge public resources, saying it is for this reason that the UPND administration found it prudent to terminate most of the road contracts that were awarded during the Patriot Front regime.
“I know, for instance, that a certain parliamentary candidate here in Kapiri Mposhi was given a contract to work on a 23 kilometres feeder road on the western part of Kapiri Mposhi district, but they allowed him to indicate that it was 28 kilometres,” Nkombo said. “Another PF official was given a contract to work on a road in Magoye in Southern Province. These road contracts were being awarded to PF aligned individuals in a fraudulent manner.”
And Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Stanley Kakubo has said that the Constituency Development Fund was not impacting positively on the lives of people in the country.
He said that the years that the Patriot Front was in government had proved that CDF was not transforming the lives of people in the country.
“In 2011 you voted for the Patriotic Front whose leadership was visionless. But in 2021 you decided to vote for a leadership that has a vision and is committed to uplifting the living standards of people in the country,” Kakubo explained.
He said that the increased Constituency Development Fund and its expanded scope of work under the same is a great milestone.
“Because we have this increased Constituency Development Fund, today we are even giving out K500,000 to marketeers who are in 41 cooperatives. Unlike in the previous regime, the Constituency Development Fund is transforming people’s lives in the country,” said Kakubo.
He also charged that the Patriot Front government used to distribute the Constituency Development Fund in a partisan manner, saying this is not the case under the UPND administration.
