By Staff Reporter
Economic Front (EF) leader Wynter Kabimba says the sugilite scam that has engulfed the entire UPND government and party functionary in Luapula Province is just a tip of the iceberg of the stinking UPND corruption, likening UPND officials to rabid dogs who have gone on rampage abusing public resources.
And Kabimba said President Hakainde Hichilema and his administration are proving everyday that they are puppets of the west, who have even failed to admonish British High Commissioner Nicholas Woolley for indulging himself in public affairs despite him speaking on their behalf.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Kabimba those President Hichilema has given positions were synonymous to putting a rat in a place where groundnuts are stored and then putting the same rat to be in charge of the same storage.
“I have never myself in the history of this country come across a scandal which blows the illegality of the entire government and political party in the province. This is the first time it’s happening,” Kabimba said.
But put to him that Hichilema took action by firing the Luapula provincial minister and the other government officials involved, Kabimba President Hichilema did not have a choice, saying it was not as if the “Chilundika scandal” came to the fore because the President instituted investigations against corruption.
“It came to the fore because Chilundika himself and his accomplices were reckless. If that audio had not come out there is nothing that HH would have done. We would have continued to live with this scandal in the country. So what credit should go to him? He had no choice in the matter,” Kabimba said.
Kabimba said it was not as if President Hichilema wanted to act clean by firing Chilundika and the others, saying there is more corruption than meets the eye by those who have not been as reckless as Chilundika.
“In fact the sugilite Chilundika scandal is just a tip of the iceberg. It’s a reflection of the rot that is going on in UPND,” Kabimba charged, and claiming that he had information that there was also a vicious fight in North Western Province involving members of parliament there and the provincial administration led by the minister over the illegal smuggling of mealie meal into the Democratic Republic of Congo. “But because this thing has not come to the fore like the Chilundika one he’s pretending that everything is going well.”
He said it was a situation where they all want to eat, “like rabid dogs, each one of them wants his share and each one of them is greedy.”
“There is no honour even amongst criminal offenders. Nobody in that fight is fighting to serve the Zambian people. No! Everybody is fighting to serve their own interests. That’s the information we have as Economic Front,” Kabimba said. “And this information is coming even from some of their own people. What have you seen there? They tried to put the ZNS officers, they get involved in the smuggling. They tried to put the Army, they get involved in smuggling. The same thing that you have seen in Luapula where provincial police commissioner is involved, superintendents are involved. That’s what is going on also in North Western Province.”
Kabimba said there was “real feasting.”
“These are rabid dogs. There is high level feasting. And you know why they are doing that? Because they don’t know what feasting is going on at Community House,” Kabimba said, and that he was ready to prove his assertions, saying this was a story which was in public domain. “Why do you think the President held that phone call involving the minister for North Western Province, the board chairman for FRA? Why do you think that the President had to go down to that level and start talking about why there is a shortage of mealie meal in North Western Province? It’s because the shortage of meal meal is being caused by his senior party functionaries in the province.”
Kabimba said Zambians have heard stories of ZNS officers being arrested, and the arrest of ZNS officers who were tasked with manning Kasenseli mine stealing the same gold they were supposed to be guarding.
Kabimba said what the President has done with several officials he has appointed was like getting a rat and throwing it into the groundnuts storage and then giving it the responsibility to look after the groundnuts.
“And when you find the groundnuts are finished, you can’t blame the rat because you know the the food for the rat is groundnuts. That’s what the man has done. He puts ZNS here, he finds they have stolen the gold. They fire a few people. He puts police officer in Luapula, they have stolen the sugilite. So what’s the poor guy going to do?” Kabimba asked.
And Kabimba said it was only in third world countries where Ambassadors and High Commissioners indulge themselves with impunity on local matters because they have a feeling that “they feed us.”
“The intention is to keep a hold of how we govern ourselves not in our interest but in their interest. Because I don’t think that any reasonable person would comment on the brutality that Emmanuel Mwamba went through with the police and say that victims of such brutality should not condemn government,” Kabimba said.
Kabimba said it should not even take the President but the minister of Foreign Affairs for a normal government government to see that even if the High Commissioner’s views maybe supportive of those in power, it was not incumbent upon him to be commenting on Zambia’s internal affairs.
He said “this British High Commissioner back in his country he’s nowhere near the prime minister. He’s a very junior officer in the foreign ministry.”
“A normal government would say back off our internal affairs, even if somebody is speaking in your favour. Because this is highly embarrassing on the the part of of the UPND government,” said Kabimba. “It goes to confirm what many people have said that this is a vassal government. This is a puppet government to the western countries. So they are confirming that by their inability to caution High Commissioner Woolley that this is not what they sent you here for. They sent him here to come and promote bilateral relations between the United Kingdom government and the Zambian government, not to meddle or interfere in the internal affairs of this country.”
1 Comment