By Staff Reporter
Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) chairman Musa Mwenye and his wife Yande are facing arrest over what sources say ‘trumped up charges.’
Well placed sources have told Daily Revelation that Mwenye’s calls for a law to be enacted to compel Presidents and permanent secretaries to declare their assets annually has not sat well with powers that be in the UPND administration, and therefore charges are being raised against him and his wife to embarrass him and dent his standing with the Zambian public, and use that as a pretext to remove him from his position at ACC.
“Mwenye is viewed as a hindrance to the wanton corruption that has linked several members in the UPND administration. His forthrightness especially has not sat well as he has been seen to be pushing back and demanding that the Commission he heads discharges its mandate by arresting corruption, past, present and future. But it seems his focus to actualize the fight against present corruption has hit road blocks within the system,” sources said. “There has been a silent fight involving him and administration officials but things seem to have boiled over after he ruffled feathers with his recent push demanding that there be an enactment of the law for Presidents and permanent secretaries to declare their assets. The frustration is that he started this debate which was then picked up steam with the United States Ambassador and the other donors, and has now become a public debate people are pushing viciously on, which has not sat well with those in power.”
Sources said the administration wants to have him removed from his position and that the investigative wings are conducting investigations against him at the moment.
However, sources said it would look petty on the administration to do so now given the debate he has started, therefore they want to have his removal dramatised by accusing him and his wife of engaging in wrongdoing.
“So the effort to remove him is being orchestrated from within the administration, and other interests associated with the administration, including one Zambian of Indian origin, who has developed deep tentacles into State House, the government and the UPND as a whole. The Indian views him as an impediment to the activities he has been conducting with UPND officials,” said sources. “So the plan is to have him arrested next week on trumped up charges in order to create that as a scapegoat to have him removed from the ACC board. Information is that they are looking into his properties which he declared to the Chief Justice to see if they can frame such charges from there. In short they are looking into his properties which he has declared.”
Efforts to talk to police spokesperson Rae Hamoonga by press time failed as he was reportedly in a meeting, while calls to Mwenye went unanswered.
