By NATION REPORTER
THE manoeuvres at the Auditor General’s office are a signal of how much corruption is happening under the UPND administration, Socialist Party spokesperson Frank Bwalya has said.
Mr Bwalya said the haste at which the UPND administration had dismissed senior officials at the Office of the Auditor General amid serious audits to the extent of skipping the right procedure of suspension was raising a lot of suspicions and questions.
He said the decision to cripple the Auditor General’s Office was a clear indication that there was something that the UPND was trying to prevent from coming out in public, hence the reason to frustrate the auditing process.
“The UPND has turned into a criminal gang and are very corrupt. They are being methodical in their corruption so that they can go unnoticed,” Mr Bwalya said.
Government has dismissed Deputy Auditor General in-charge of audits Francis Mbewe and Clara Maziba who was in-charge of corporate services, and who were at the level of controlling officers and signatories. Mr Bwalya said what was happening at the Ministry of Finance and National Planning had brought the fight against corruption under the UPND into serious questioning.
“We use to say there was a selective fight against corruption but no, there is no fight against corruption under the UPND at all,” Mr Bwalya said.
He alleged that UPND was trying to protect the people who were funding them when they were in opposition who were now obtaining contracts from the government dubiously.
Mr Bwalya has called investigative wings to investigate the dismissals.
st the Office of the Auditor General thoroughly so that the people who were dismissed were cleared or punished if they were guilty.
He said the investigative wings should be in-charge of this matter because leaving it in the hands of the UPND would be risky as all indications show that they just wanted to shut the affected people from speaking.
Mr Bwalya said Zambians no longer trusted the UPND government with the fight against corruption because for them, it was just about defending their interest and their sponsors.
