By Patson Chilemba
Mporokoso member of parliament Brian Mundubile has challenged the UPND administration to explain the US$50 million payment and other “saga” involving businessman Shashikant Patel as he is a close friend of State House.
But State House chief communications analyst Clayson Hamasaka said
he had no idea about the relationship between President Hakainde and Patel which Mundubile is asserting about
The Ministry of Finance confirmed to Daily Revelation that the Zambian government has been making payments to Zambian businessman of Indian origin Shashikant Patel, but avoided mentioning the huge $50 million payment made to him by the UPND administration.
Impeccable sources in the UPND administration have told Daily Revelation that $50 million was paid as compensation to a company Shashi owned. Patel is said to have close links to State House and the UPND administration, something he of course denies.
MoF stated that payments to the gentleman started under the PF administration following a court arbitration.
But speaking with Daily Revelation, Mundubile said the Auditor General’s report makes reference to overpayments, and that those were happening under the UPND administration.
He said it was not good to make the excuse that because Patel was paid under the PF, then all the payments to him should be linked to that as the UPND has been in power for over two years now.
Mundubile demanded that the government should be able to explain itself regarding that payment.
“The truth of the matter is that we’ve come to learn that Shashi Patel is a very close friend to President Hakainde Hichilema. And President Hakainde Hichilema has been giving business to his firm ever since he came into government, be it in the Agricultural sector and so on,” Mundubile said. “So nobody should run to bring in the PF. They should just explain this saga relating to them because we had nothing to do with contracting Shashi Patel work on Indeni, to import fuel. It’s a different administration altogether. So the two should be separated. There is no relationship whatsoever.”
But Hamasaka said he has no idea about what Mundubile was asserting.
“Me I have no idea on that one. I don’t even know him. I have never even seen him myself. Personally I have never met Mr Shashi, so I wouldn’t know. I have got too many friends who you don’t know. HH has too many friends who I don’t know. You have too many friends who I don’t. You get the point? Yah! So I wouldn’t know,” said Hamasaka. “I have never seen Shashi in State House myself.”
Mundubile also reacted to Speaker Nelly Mutti’s statements to Daily Revelation where she challenged opposition leaders to point at the standing order she had breached for them to attempt to impeach her.
“I was shocked when I heard she said that because the motion is very clear. The motion has pointed out the breaches. What she has to do is to read the motion,” Mundubile said. “Standing orders are subordinate to the constitution. So she has committed a much greater offence. The focus should be on the breach of the constitution.”
Asked on the fact that the opposition, despite reaching the threshold required to raise a motion against the Speaker, did not have the numbers to ultimately remove her from office, Mundubile said when there was a breach of the constitution, people should not start by preoccupying themselves with numerical numbers.
“There are two things that have to be won. You either win the narrative or indeed the numerical numbers. Now if the Speaker is in breach and we are preoccupied with the fact that the other side has more numbers, then that breach will never be highlighted,”Mundubile said, saying when the motion reaches the floor of the house, people will listen to what wrong the Speaker has committed.
He said in the event the opposition lose on numerical numbers, they will certainly not lose on the narrative as facts were facts.
“And members of the public will know now that what the Speaker did there was wrong. And going into the future we would expect that she doesn’t repeat the same mistake. So it’s a win on our side because we would have highlighted a wrong,” Mundubile said, and that the goal was also to persuade other members who may not have known about the breach.
He said the fact that the PF delayed to go for the convention should not warrant illegalities in the party being committed.
Mundubile said it was in fact the central committee which urged former president Edgar Lungu to stay on until a substantive leader was elected to replace him, and that there were other equally important activities that made it impossible to hold the event including changing the party constitution to accommodate people like Chishimba Kambwili, Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba and Miles Sampa to become eligible to stand for the presidency.
He said the party was just recently from finalising the draft constitution having gone through the various provinces.
