…than the corruption the country experienced in the past, says he is extremely disappointed with the manner in which the UPND is governing the country
By BARNABAS ZULU
RENOWNED constitutional Lawyer John Sangwa has described the corruption that is happening in the UPND government as more harmful than the corruption that was observed in the past.
And Sangwa says he as disappointed as many Zambians are with the manner in which the UPND is running government.
Appearing on Diamond TV Costa programme, Sunday, Sangwa said the fight against corruption in the UPND was not serious as, the leadership had willfully ignored the corruption which was currently happening under the watch of the UPND government.
“And that is why I am saying, when the President (Hakainde Hichilema) declares the fight against corruption, that was just a slogan. But here is the problem about why this fight is not serious. Corruption under PF is already done. These people have already stolen money, they have already taken their bribes and the damage is already done. So you have two kinds of corruption. There is past corruption and there is ongoing corruption. Now, the most harmful corruption is not the past corruption, it is the corruption that is happening now that is more harmful,” Mr Sangwa said.
He said the corruption that was happening in the UPND was more harmful than what used to happen under the Patriotic Front (PF).
“Any serious government should be able to say, you know what, now that you are trying to rebuild the country, now as you are rebuilding, you can’t have people that are chopping down, stealing and involving in corruption and everything else. So if anything, the greatest attention should be paid to the current corruption,” Mr Sangwa said.
“Now about past corruption, those are crimes, you can always follow up the guys later. And then that comes as a matter of recoveries and conviction and so forth. But the most harmful corruption is what is happening today,” he said.
And Sangwa said he is disappointed with the manner in which the UPND is running government in the last three years because Zambians expected a lot of positive change from the new dawn administration. “But unfortunately, it is one of the disappointment and I think there are many people who expected a lot from this government and people are disappointed. I am equally one of those people who are disappointed with this government in the last three years,” Mr Sangwa said.
“I think when we say that we are disappointed…nobody accepted all the challenges which the government inherited in 2021 to be solved overnight. That is not the expectation. The expectations at the very least was that government was going to turn around the country and put it in the right direction. And that has not happened, and I think for me, that is where the disappointment comes from,” he said
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