Corruption charges against GBM suspicious

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 16:14:16 +0000

Corruption charges leveled against Defence Minister Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba (GBM) by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC)are destructive and lack impartiality, says the Young Leaders Alliance (YOLA).

YOLA spokesperson Inyambo Akakandelwa said that the investigations by ACC raised a lot of suspicions especially in the manner they were communicated in the preliminary findings.

Mr. Akakandelwa observed that the manner ACC undertook the preliminary investigation was a source of conflict and created a strong perception that the process may not have been entirely impartial.

“This is largely on account of the growing public speculation that the foremost media used is one that is increasingly being perceived as hostile to Mr. Mwamba. What largely collaborates the foregoing position is a matter of public speculation and debate that the subject media house is one that is actively pursuing an agenda that is purely anti-GBM owing to his suspected appeal for future leadership and that the said media would
prefer another person.

“Granted the above, particularly in relation to how the findings were released, there is a noticeable growing perception that perhaps the ACC got embroiled in the politics that have come to surround the allegations raised against the two ministers and therefore rendering their supposed professional work lacking in impartiality,” Mr. Akakandelwa said.

He said that the anomaly with the modus operandi employed by ACC in handling the allegation raised against the two ministers was evident in its partiality in releasing results relating to the two cases.

Mr. Akakandelwa said that it was shocking that ACC in its preliminary investigation had only revealed issues that implicated Mr. Mwamba which were going to be subject of comprehensive investigation.

“It is interesting that in the case of Mr.  Wynter Kabimba who is Justice Minister, the commission has found it convenient to simply issue a blanket statement indicating that they did not find anything implicating Mr. Kabimba. Wouldn’t it have been prudent for them to be specific with grounds raised and specifically indicate what led them to a conclusive position that there was absolutely nothing implicating Mr. Kabimba in relation to the allegations of the oil deal and anything incidental thereto?

“While we may not want to argue that the Minister of Justice is guilty as alleged, isn’t the incorporation of a company called Midlands Energy a key ingredient in the allegation raised against him and it would have been an act that would have entrenched far reaching credibility in the investigations if the commission has opted to be more precise about what led them to hurriedly clear the minister of justice and on the other hand hurriedly attribute firm allegation to his defense counterpart.” he said

Mr. Akakandelwa said that it was clear that ACC had set out to compromise the path of what should have been a credible investigation with a view to extricating Mr. Kabimba from the allegation in a biased manner and thereby play into the hands of political machinations that were believed to be underway.

He said that the continued and undeniable impression of victimization against Mr. Mwamba was a complexion which clearly showed how unfairly ACC treated him, granted the fact of influence from the same stakeholders.

“The foregoing does certainly take away from the confidence given to the findings of the ACC and going forward, it will be critical for authorities to completely obliterate the perception that GBM is merely being a victim of power politics at play. The fact of Mr. Mwamba seemingly disadvantaged from the point of view of party and government decisions,” he said.

Mr. Akakandelwa also said that it would be helpful to keep politics away from the allegations faced by the two ministers and ensure that there was enough room for the law to take its course.

He said that it was also in the interest of consistency and building public confidence in the work of ACC,  that it was necessary that the works of the commission were not only autonomous but actually seen to be autonomous.