PF ministers face prison-Mulongoti

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 16:28:11 +0000

Several Patriotic Front (PF) leaders will be imprisoned for corruption after leaving government because of their partiality to single sourcing of goods and services, says former Works and Supply Minister Mike Mulongoti.

Mr Mulongoti said several PF ministers will be jailed for corruption and that was a known fact and unless they can change their attitude and mode of governance, they were definitely destined for prison life.

“I can tell you that PF leaders think that they are smart now but we shall see many of these people going to prison after leaving government. They are just making their way to prison much easier for corruption and abuse of office,” he said.

And Mr. Mulongoti said that President Sata was takingZambiainto an abyss because he has no plans to develop the country.

Reflecting on the PF governance system and its commitment to the fight corruption, Mr. Mulongoti said that many serving ministers in President Sata’s administration will go to jail for corruption because they have embraced single sourcing which was the base for corruption.

He said that corruption among PF ministers was frightening and that if nothing was done to correct the situation, the PF regime would be a one-term government.

Mr. Mulongoti said that the PF government had created many cartels led by senior ministers such as one in the procurement of fertilizer where monies were paid into their off shore accounts.

He said that allegations of corruption in the tendering and procurement of fertilizer, e-ZamTis at the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) and road construction were a source of concern.

“It is evident that the PF government is very keen to be involved in corruption. They have been insisting on single sourcing all the time. This single sourcing is a recipe for corruption and many of them will go to jail,” said Mr. Mulongoti.

He warned President Sata and his ministers that they should not think that they were clever by embracing corruption because time for reckoning was coming soon.

Mr. Mulongoti who strongly supported President Sata and the PF during the 2011 general election said that corruption under the PF had gone to the extremes, adding that the people ofZambiawere watching and following events keenly and religiously.

He said the Public Procurement Act was enacted so that order and legality in the procurement of goods and service could prevail.

There was nothing strange in what they were doing, he said, “in terms of procurement because it is unaccepted fact that if you allow one person to make decisions over a huge contract what you are doing is that you are opening them to corruption.”

He insisted that transparency and accountability should be enhanced in the manner public funds were utilized.

“We are not asking, we are not pleading or begging from them it is not their money, it is public funds. We want to see transparency in the manner these funds are utilized in accordance with the provision of the law. This single sourcing thing in the PF will lead them into trouble, I will tell you these big projects being undertaken they will be under scrutiny at one point. Let them not cheat themselves it is not their property. They will have to answer over the corruption and cartels they have created in the procurement of fertilizer, in road construction, in the supply of goods and service to government.”

And Mr. Mulongoti said that President Sata pretended that he had plans and programmes forZambiawhen he was campaigning but had since shown that his government was now depending on developmental programmes which were left by the MMD.

“I can safely tell you that President Michael Sata is taking this country nowhere; they pretended that they had their own programmes but it is evident enough that the programmes they are handling are MMD programmes.

The PF should be bold enough to acknowledge that what we were advising them that administration change but government continue, the plans are by the people of Zambia and when you take over don’t think that you are very clever.

Your ability can only be assessed by the way you fit in the shoes you find. They have shot themselves in the foot. For too long they wanted to pretend that they knew things when they did not,” he said.