No plunder -Musokotwane

By CHARLES MUSONDA

HE dismissals at the Auditor General’s Office are not meant to frustrate and stop revelations of plunder that has been discovered under the UPND administration, Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane has said.

The Deputy Auditor General in-charge of audits Francis Mbewe and Clara Mazimba who was in-charge of Corporate Services, and who were at the level of controlling officers and signatories have been dismissed.

Dr Musokotwane, the Minister of Finance and National Planning has said that the UPND government shall swiftly deal with any form of corruption, looting or plunder wherever the crimes shall manifest.

Dr Musokotwane has however stated that humans were but just what they were and are prone to committing crimes such as corruption, plunder and looting.

He has denied reports that the Auditor General’s Office is being purged so that it is disabled in an attempt to sabotage the exposure of egregious pillage and plunder that has taken place in the last 18 months of the UPND rule.

In an interview yesterday Dr Musokotwane said he was not aware of any looting or plunder in the UPND government but that should there be some perpetrators involved in the crimes, government would move to quickly stem the vice.

The Daily Nation has revealed that there has been unprecedented corruption and looting in just one and half years of the UPND in power and that the new dawn has embarked on a crusade paralyse the Auditor General’s Office, make it ineffective to cover up its plunder and looting.

Dr Musokotwane said humans being what they were anywhere in the world were bound to commit crimes but that what was important was the action government would take when crimes such as corruption and pillaging were committed.

“As you know, human being are but just human beings and crimes take place where there are human beings and where there are human beings, crimes take place. But I am not aware of any plunder or looting happening under this (UPND) administration…but all I can assure you is that if there is any plunder or looting, we shall swiftly deal with it. The important thing is what action government takes when such crimes take place,” Dr Musokotwane said.

Dr Musokotwane said the UPND government was not going put under the table or hide corruption being perpetrated by those in leadership but shall face the truth and deal the perpetrators.

And Dr Musokotwane has said Auditor General Dr Dick Sichembe should not feel threatened by the dismissal of his two Deputy Auditor Generals because according to him, there was nothing to warrant his dismissal.

He stated that the dismissal of the two Deputy Auditor Generals was not meant to disable the Office of the Auditor General but an on-going process to re-organise the institution of oversight.

Dr Musokotwane claimed that the removal of senior officers both at the Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Auditor General was meant to ensure that law enforcement officers should conduct their investigations unhindered.

“If there are any dismissals at the Auditor General’s Office, they are meant to reorganize the office and I have not received any information that the Auditor General is involved in anything. So for now, there should not be anything that should make the Auditor General threatened…only on the basis of what I know. This thing (dismissals) is evolving. I am not aware of anything that is against the Auditor General,” Dr Musokotwane said.