Suspend councillor, UPND demands

Wed, 31 Jan 2018 13:04:22 +0000

By PETER MALASHA

UNITED Party for National Development (UPND) in Mkushi has demanded immediate suspension of Chibefwe ward councillor Gershom Musonda to allow for investigations over 16 unreceipted stall plots at Itala market, among other things.

UPND Chibefwe ward chairman Wisdom Kashoti demanded the suspension of Mr. Musonda from duty in a press statement issued to the Daily Nation.

Mr. Kashoti stated that it was shocking the way the local authority was handling the whole issue as though it was a minor issue.

Mr. Kashoti charged that there was overwhelming evidence that showed that councillor Musonda and the old market committee could had abused their powers.

He said they claimed those in question had abused their powers by firstly allocating stall plots to some people as opposed to standard practice which was supposed to be carried out by the planning and lands department of the Council.

Mr. Kashoti further accused the crew of allocating stall plots to some people who did not even deposit money in the Mkushi District Council account.

“It is also disturbing to note that Mkushi District Council have taken the matter lightly when full evidence is there in the records of the new market committee and the Council. We are also disappointed with the new market committee chairman Mr. Patrick Bwembya for failure to release a full report that contains the number of applicants who paid for the stalls,” Mr. Kashoti explained.

Mr. Kashoti added that failure to release the report by the new market committee chairman had raised a lot of speculations.

The Chibefwe ward UPND youth leader further congratulated Mkushi youths for coming out in the open to condemn the stall plot scam. Saying, it clearly demonstrated that youths in the district were responsible and wanted everything to be handled in a transparent manner.