By Patson Chilemba
Economic Front (EF) leader Wynter Kabimba says it is very difficult for Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba to cry “blue murder” before he even hears what he has been summoned for by the investigative wings.
And Kabimba said the work the investigating wings are carrying out is not against any particular group, but is intended to cleanse society.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Kabimba said Mwamba was entitled to legal representation “so the best thing he should do is submit himself, in the company of his lawyers to ACC” and hear what the investigations are all about, and if those investigations were frivolous then he could tell the Zambian people that he was being persecuted.
“But to cry persecution before you even submit yourself to the ACC, I think it’s most unfair in my view,” Kabimba said.
He said there was a war against corruption, and all the Zambians have agreed going as far back as late president Levy Mwanawasa’s time, that public office should never be used for enrichment by individuals because doing so is tantamount to stealing from the Zambian people, and that nobody occupying public office should ever be allowed to steal from the poor Zambians.
Kabimba said the ordinary people were disposed today, dying from preventable diseases on account of having no drugs in hospitals all because those that have been given the privilege to occupy public office have abused that privilege and taken away the resources that should have gone to serve ordinary people and improve their livelihoods.
“So on that principle, I think we are all agreed or we should all agree that time has come for self-censorship for anybody who wants to occupy public office. All of us should agree that there is a cost to occupying public office if you are going to abuse public office. There is a consequence for doing that. And that the era of impunity should come to an end,” Kabimba said. “And I think this is not only about those that have occupied public office in the past. I think this applies even to those that are occupying public office today. Because we have already started getting vibes that even our colleagues that have taken over now, that are crying the loudest that they are fighting corruption, the tentacles of corruption have started spreading out in the UPND.”
Kabimba said the work that ACC, DEC and other investigating wings were undertaking today should be understood that this was not against any particular group, but intended to cleanse society, saying he watched a clip recently from China where two senior ruling party officials were executed for corruption, because the Chinese society wants to make sure that public office should not be a bedrock for corruption and a launchpad for self-enrichment.
“So my appeal to my brother GBM is go to the ACC, go and hear what they have in offing for you,” he said.
Among the offences Mwamba was warned and cautioned on include the offence of Fraudulent False Accounting Contrary to Section 326 of the Penal Code Act Cap 87 of the Laws of Zambia.
This is in relation to various contracts awarded to a company known as Curzon Global Limited by the Ministry of Defence in 2013 when he was Minister of Defence amounting to over 7-point One million dollars where he allegedly had an interest.
Asked on the same, Kabimba said he made a statement in 2013 or early 2014 when he was still in PF that there was corruption in PF, and there was tribalism emerging in the party.
He said he raised the red flag that contrary to what then president Michael Sata was saying that “I’m allergic to corruption”, there was actually corruption on the rise within PF.
“I did say that, not when I was outside PF but while I was still in PF,” Kabimba said, adding that Mwamba at that time when Kabimba was summoned by ACC indicated that he had a dossier against him for corruption.
He said he has been challenging ACC for Mwamba to provide them with the same dossier, as everybody at the time was under the impression that he was under the protection of Sata.
Kabimba said the ACC later went to his office that they found after investigations that he had no interest in Trafigura oil company, something he said Sata himself told him that he had nothing to do with the matter because he knew the people at Trafigura.
He insisted that all those that have held public office and those still holding office must be accountable to Zambians, in terms of how public affairs were being handled.
“I want to align myself with the people of Zambia, not even with UPND, but with the people of Zambia that the people of Zambia deserve better leaders than those that submit themselves to the leadership of this country,” said Kabimba.
