PF blamed for UPND corruption

BY NATION REPORTER

THE United Party for National Development (UPND) is blaming the Patriotic Front (PF) for the systematic rising corruption in the new dawn administration, claiming that the ruling party inherited an entrenched and endemic corruption system.

And the ruling party says it is aware that some people who have been designated to some positions in government were appointed on the basis of connections while others were hired to execute certain mandates in the procurement process.  

Cornelius Mweetwa, the UPND spokesperson says there were a lot of people in Zambia who had cultivated a culture of more money in their pockets but were not ready to work for it hence engaging themselves in corruption.

Mr Mweetwa claimed that for almost a decade, a culture of wanting money without working for it had grown and that it was difficult for the UPND government to change the system overnight.

Reacting to Transparency International Zambia (TIZ) who have observed a trend of increasing corruption under the UPND, especially in the procurement sector, Mr Mweetwa said the PF was responsible for corruption taking place in the new dawn administration. He said while the ruling party could not question allegations by Transparency International Zambia that corruption was on the rise in the new dawn, the UPND government was determined to uproot and end the culture of people seeking free money.

Mr Mweetwa who is Southern Province Minister stated that the UPND government was not entertaining corruption and was working hard to ensure the vice was decimated to the lowest levels.

“We cannot question TIZ allegations in their statement that there is rising corruption in the UPND if their observation is as a result of conducted research. But the corruption being attributed to the UPND is because the PF left an entrenched corrupt system. So what we have is a systematic problem and we will not uproot it overnight.

“There are a lot of people who believe that they need to have money in their pockets which they did not work for. For almost ten years, there was a culture of more money in the pockets and many Zambians in their mindset, they believe that money should just land in their pockets for free,” Mr Mweetwa said.”

He stated that there was no country on earth that was going to gift its citizens with free money, claiming that not even the world’s biggest economy, the United States of America (USA) was giving away free money to its nationals.

Mr Mweetwa said the culture of free money in Zambia had destroyed the mindset of many Zambians who did not want to work hard for their money. Mr Mweetwa said the corruption activities being witnessed in the UPND government were the remnants of an inherited corrupt system because the governing party did not condone graft in all its forms.