SINKAMBA CAUTIONS AGAINST ‘FIXING’ OPPONENTS
THE Green Party is surprised with the speed at which the investigative wings have started investigating former ministers and close associates of President Edgar Lungu and called for caution so that it does not appear as if they are trying to fix these people.
Green party president Peter Sinkamba in an interview said that he was not comfortable with the time frame because it was too early for them to start doing their investigations.
Last week the ACC and DEC indicated that they had summoned former foreign affairs minister Joseph Malanji and were also investigating former Health Minister Dr Chitalu Chilufya, a year after he was acquitted of money laundering charges.
The DEC also announced freezing the accounts belonging to President Edgar Lungu’s close friend Valden Findlay which allegedly had over K11 million.
He said that the president-elect Hakainde Hichilema had not even been sworn in office already for them to start persecuting the former ministers.
Mr Sinkamba said that this looked as though it was a witch hunt and that people would think that UPND were trying to use them to fight political battles.
He wondered why the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and DEC were in haste to prosecute the former ministers a few days after the presidential elections and imminent change of government.
‘’As you are aware these guys are not even flight risks because they are members of parliament who will be coming to work when the sessions of the National Assembly commence next month,’’ he said.
Mr Sinkamba said that he hoped that these investigations were not witch-hunts because he did not understand the rationale behind the investigations.
He said it would have made sense if these guys were not MPs because chances of them skipping the country would be high unlike the situation prevailing at the moment.
‘’My plea is for them to exercise patience and be professional in their conduct because it is painting a bad picture as people will think they just want to fix perceived political opponents,’’ he said.
Mr Sinkamba said that corruption was bad but that people needed to follow the right channels and not just because of hearsay.
BY ADRIAN MWANZA
