Hakainde actively shielding ministers from being answerable

By Daily Revelation Editor

Former Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) chairperson Musa Mwenye says failure to arrest and dismiss serving government officials who were under investigations was a constant source of friction between the board and those who refused to do their job in the commission’s management.

Breaking the silence following the dissolution of the board he chaired by President Hakainde Hichilema last Friday, Musa said his board operated under very difficult conditions, which involved being sidelined and denied access to any information on ongoing investigations and prosecutions for a full year.

He stressed that he strongly believed that the fight against corruption could not be won unless “we fight ALL corruption – past present and future”, stressing that those who committed corruption in the past regimes must be investigated and prosecuted, including current government officials who have betrayed the trust of the Zambian people.

“Almost three years down the line, we should have seen some government officials arrested and dismissed. This is a matter that was a constant source of friction between the board and those who refused to do their job in this regard. Instead, they elected to be selective in the discharge of their duties and responsibilities,” Mwenye stated. “ It is also worth noting that successive governments have manipulated the operations of the ACC by appointing a strong board to give a veneer of respectability but appointing management that is ‘user friendly’. But I am proud that the board I served refused to be intimidated, remained in position and demanded internally and publicly, both as a board and in our individual capacities, that the right thing be done.

Clearly, just going by what Musa has stated we can clearly deduce that it was not easy to serve on the board whose management could not act on corruption on account of being a “user friendly” management. Musa is saying despite the odds they faced, they refused to be intimidated and stood their ground, insisting that Hakainde’s administration must live up to their proclamations that they would fight corruption, wholesomely, past, present and future. However, the management Musa presided over decided to focus on the alleged corruption committed in the previous PF administration.

Musa has pointedly questioned why there hasn’t been arrests and dismissals of very senior government officials given the many scandals that have been happening, literally exchanging each other like baby nappies, under the watchful eyes of a President who claims to be committed to fight corruption.

Musa is further contrasting himself to Hakainde who has been hiding under the pretext of there being no law compelling him to declare assets yearly to prove the cleanliness of his asset value.

His supporters who have buried their heads in the sand, and have mastered the art of denouncing all manner of common sense, argue that he declared his assets when he was filing in his nominations for president in 2021. How foolish to reason in that manner, because everyone that has got a brain that functions properly on them will realise that Hakainde’s asset value of three years ago is not the same today. In short, there is no record anywhere showing how much Hakainde’s asset value has increased or decreased in the three years he has been President, given the many privileges he is entitled to as President, plus the many questionable undertakings in which his long-time business associates have been mentioned.

Musa said one of the many sources of friction between his recently dissolved board and the recently resigned director general Thom Shamakamba was failure to arrest government officials. Who would argue against him when Hakainde seems to be in the forefront of protecting his ministers by transferring them to other ministries instead of dismissing them and making them accountable to the public? He transfers Sylvia Masebo from the Ministry of Health to Lands in the midst of mounting questions over the scandal surrounding the 61 trucks carrying medicines and medical supplies from Egypt that have been marooned at a private location since November 2023.

And also despite mounting questions on Peter Kapala in the Ministry of Energy, Hakainde chose to transfer him to the Ministry of Fisheries instead of making him answerable to the many questions and complaints raised against him.