IMENDA’S CLAIMS OF AFDB, EU FINANCING UPND SHOULD BE INTERROGATED – ANTONIO MWANZA

By NATION REPORTER  

UPND Secretary General Batuke Imenda’s revelations that President Hakainde Hichilema intends to use loans and other funds the government is about to receive from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the European Union (EU) to share with his UPND cadres must be interrogated, Socialist Party deputy secretary general Antonio Mwanza has said.

Mr Mwanza said the loans the Zambian government received from the AfDB and the EU were for national development and cannot be diverted to finance UPND cadres. 

He said this was a scandal of epic proportion and it cannot go unpunished. The Zambians must hold Mr Hichilema and his government accountable for this planned abuse of public office.

“With this expose, Zambians are wondering as to how safe their money is, and how deep is the corruption rooted in the UPND government. From sharing proceeds of crime from the theft of Sugilite, fertiliser deals, Gold to now sharing public loans with party cadres,” he said.

Mr Mwanza urged the African Development Bank and the European Union to review and halt their commitments to Mr Hichilema’s administration and ensure that their funds are protected and accounted for.

Mr Imenda exposed this scam at a public meeting in Lusaka’s Chawama Township last Saturday.

Mr Mwanza said the African Development Bank was a regional multilateral development financial institution established to contribute to the economic development and social progress of African countries that were the institution’s regional member countries. 

Mr Mwanza said the bank’s mission was to promote the investment of public and private capital in projects and programmes that are likely to contribute to the economic development of its stakeholders. 

He said the European Union was a long-standing cooperating partner of Zambia. For over 40 years the EU has been supporting Zambia’s development in its social, economic and environmental dimensions through the European Development Fund and a number of other financing instruments.

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