By Staff Reporter
Leader of the opposition in parliament Brian Mundubile says most of the UPND corruption “filth” will not come out in the Auditor General’s Report because they dismantled the office to hide the dirt.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Mundubile said Zambians will not see most scandals revealed in the AG’s report, something he said was the real reason why President Hakainde Hichilema removed the Auditor General Dick Sichembe from office.
He said there were many scandals in the hunting, energy and fertilizer contracts, touching several ministries.
“But what will even be more disturbing is that the Auditor General’s Report will not even show that. You see the connection? You will find that this particular transaction which is highly questionable will not even reflect in the Auditor General’s Report, to further confirm that, we have our own questions on the Auditor General’s Report,” Mundubile said. “What has happened under the UPND, there has been so much corruption in most of these ministries that the only way they could try to hide part of that corruption is through dismantling the Auditor General’s office, and that minimum they managed to do. They dismantled that office and now they can hide all the filth. They can hide all the filth.”
He demanded that Zambians must question the procurements being done under the UPND from the time they took office, calling for scrutiny especially in the Ministry of Agriculture and Health, saying only then will people understand the motivation behind the dismantling of the Auditor General’s office.
He said he was saddened that ‘their friends’ in the diplomatic community have been very quiet on such matters, yet the Auditor General’s report is a serious document they should have been interested in.
“They seem not to want to see their friends getting soiled too early,” Mundubile said.
Mundubile said those in the opposition have been very clear that the fight against corruption under the UPND administration is mere political persecution as there has been no action taken against those accused of corrupt practices in the UPND administration.
He said those in the opposition protested in parliament over the ‘transaction’ into the $100 million between the Ministry of Health and TFM Holdings, saying even when there was a letter written by TFM executive chairman Mcebisi Mlonzi to the effect that a minister in the UPND government was soliciting for a bribe, there was no movement, yet there was so much traction on cases bordering on suspected proceeds of crime involving those in the opposition.
He said not just on this matter, when Foreign Affairs minister Stanley Kakubo was seen leaving some ‘Chinese place’ with a very heavy bag, and concerns were raised, the President merely said that he had called the minister and the minister said it was not corruption.
“Just like was the case in the case of the health minister. So these two examples among many others go to show that there has been no fight against corruption under the UPND, especially on cases concerning them. But there has been mere political persecution,” Mundubile said, arguing that it will be wise for Zambians to find out how many cases of corruption were before the courts, not just the ones dealing with suspected proceeds of crime.
He said besides the Ministry of Health deal, and the one involving Kakubo, there was also a ‘scandal’ where fertilizer was procured at $15 million over and above the price, and yet the fertilizer was already in the depots around the country, including another one where a consultant was hired under Ministry of Agriculture on who should and should not supply the fertilizer.
“These are transactions when you read you actually say while! There are many other examples to do with corruption,” Mundubile said.
He said opposition members of parliament have made their demands known on the matters, including when they demanded for action from the government and the investigative wings over allegations against Masebo.
“As long as an allegation against corruption involves a UPND member, be rest assured nothing will happen. So for us we are indemnified, we are redeemed because this is what we said before,” Mundubile said, adding that they expected a movement on the matter close to one year since the allegations were made. “The fact that Mlonzi actually wrote it down. He wrote a letter. That’s how serious he was. The man put it in writing to say this is what has happened and so. So you didn’t need further evidence than to just call the same Mlonzi to say ‘what do you mean? Here, what has happened, and so on?’”
Mundubile said “Mlonzi’s” assertions just confirms what the PF said.
“My words to the President are that the Zambian people are slowly losing confidence in the administration, especially in so far as the fight against corruption is concerned,” he said.
He said given the number of PF members who have been arraigned for corruption, he does not expect that the President would allow cases of corruption involving his own officials would go uninvestigated.
