By GIDEON NYENDWA
UPND officials are using the struggles they purportedly went through during the Patriotic Front (PF) regime to syphon money from the government by suing the state and demanding compensation of huge amounts, Patriots for Economic Progress (PEP) president, Sean Tembo, has said.
Mr Tembo said it had become a trend for the UPND to be giving themselves money now that they were in government by using excuses of what they went through during the struggle of wanting to get into power.
“What we are seeing is a very dangerous trend,” he said.
Mr Tembo said what was happening was just a means of wanting to enrich themselves in a way that Zambians were not able to notice.
Mr Tembo said that the moves by the UPND members to sue the state now that they were in control of the government was immoral, illegal and criminal.
He said the sooner someone puts a stop to this, the better, otherwise they are going to rip this country of all the little resources that were remaining.
Mr Tembo said that people in the Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) suffered persecution under the hands of UNIP during the struggle to power but no one sued the state demanding compensation.
He also said that even PF themselves suffered a lot under the hands of the MMD during the struggle for power but they never exhibited the trickery that was being seen under the UPND, which they are using to share money from the state.
Mr Tembo said a lot of Zambians went through a lot during the liberation struggle from the colonial masters but not even one decided to sue the state because they knew that fighting and suffering was for the betterment of the country.
Mr Tembo said that the compensation of K500, 000 each to Senior Chief Mukuni’s wife and four others for alleged malicious prosecution had set a very bad precedent and now everybody who was persecuted think they could benefit on those lines.
