Corruption has become endemic in UPND – Kabimba

By NATION REPORTER

THE procurement of fertiliser, the 156 Toyota Land Cruiser motor vehicles by Local Government and Rural Development and the mismanagement of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) have become some of the biggest corruption scandals in the UPND administration under the stewardship of Mr Hakainde Hichilema, says Wynter Kabimba SC.

Mr Kabimba, the leader of the Economic Front (EF) party has warned that President Hichilema and his tandem of corrupt ministers and other government officials shall be made to account for their actions because Zambians were documenting their corruption activities.

Mr Kabimba said many farmers across the country had not yet received fertiliser and other farming inputs because the UPND administration’s core objective was to quickly amass wealth at the expense of the Zambians whom the ruling party was purporting to serve.

He said in an interview that every successive government had neglected or avoided to recapitalise the Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia (NCZ) because that would serve to take away their opportunity to engage in corruption via the procurement of fertiliser from outside the country.

He said it was not surprising the government had allowed the Chinese to set up two fertiliser manufacturing companies in Lusaka because that would give those in government a pivotal advantage to procure fertiliser at an inflated price.

“I can tell you that from my experience in government there are two bedrocks of corruption in the UPND government. The first is the Constituency Development Fund and the second is the procurement of fertiliser. That is why you find each government that comes into power is not interested in recapitalising the Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia because if the fertiliser is going to be produced or procured locally, the beneficiaries from the corruption in the procurement will lose out,” Mr Kabimba said .