By Nation Reporter
MINISTERS and other government officials in the new dawn administration should learn lessons from what is happening to former leaders in the Patriotic Front (PF) who are being arrested on corruption charges that the UPND shall not be in government in perpetuity and that time will come for them to account should they get involved in vices such as corruption, Cornelius Mweetwa has cautioned.
And Mr Mweetwa has said the UPND government will endeavour to pursue the corruption of the previous government as well as that being committed by leaders of the current government anchored on the doctrine of the law being blind to political affiliation or status. Mr Mweetwa, the Choma Central Member of Parliament and Southern Province minister said Ministers in the UPND government should not fall into the temptation of mocking and laughing at former leaders during the PF rule but should instead learn lessons and avoid engaging into corruption.
He said in an interview that should current government Ministers and other senior officials venture into violating the laws of the country by engaging in corrupt practices, they should be ready to be followed, arrested and prosecuted either while still in government or after the leaving public office.
Mr Mweetwa has advised his fellow Ministers that they would be safer if they started engaging in productive activities such as agriculture while still in office rather than wait until they had lost their jobs in public office to venture into private entrepreneurship.
“For me, the arrest and prosecution of our colleagues from the previous administration should be a lesson for us in government now. We are new and we should be able to pick some lessons from what is happening to our colleagues. We should not be laughing at them because the UPND will not be in government in perpetuity…and this means that we are next on the queue should we venture into corruption. This is non-negotiable,” Mr Mweetwa said.
And Mr Mweetwa, who is the UPND spokesperson said the crusade against corruption shall remain blind to political affiliation or status and that whoever will be found on the wrong side of the law shall be pursued by the law enforcement agencies.
He said the same law the PF was using to fight graft was the same the UPND was using and that the doctrine of one being innocent until proved guilty shall be respected.
Mr Mweetwa said the UPND as a new government had not enacted any law and shall strictly follow the law when dealing with cases of graft.
“For us in the UPND, we have said corruption should be fought wholesomely. We have left the ACC to work according to their constitutive mandate. So the law will not look at your political status or affiliation and that is the difference we have brought in fighting graft. There is no any form of interference AND THE commission is pursuing any person whom they have credible trail of evidence connected to any act that would be referred to as act of corrupt practices,” Mr Mweetwa said.
He said no one should commit acts of corruption and begin to hide under political affiliation and wen arrested, cry political persecution.
