By GIDEON NYENDWA
THE secret quizzing of the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) when it appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Thursday over irregularities reported by the Auditor General has unsettled Lumezi Independent Member of Parliament Munir Zulu.
Mr Zulu has questioned why FRA was not subjected to questioning in front of cameras when they were being interviewed by PAC like all other entities that had appeared before the committee. He said it raised concern as to why FRA was interviewed by PAC off cameras because it was always the norm that the interviews were done on camera for transparency’s sake and so that people could be in the know. Mr Zulu said it was the first time that an interview between PAC and an institution was done in secret, behind closed doors and away from cameras. “PAC always sits with different ministries on cameras but we were shocked FRA was not,” he said.
Mr. Zulu said the act caused worry because that move meant that there was something that they were trying to hide. “What are they trying to hide?” he questioned. Mr. Zulu wondered what the state did not want the public to know, saying that Zesco and other public institutions were interrogated on camera. “They should tell the people what they were hiding, people wanted to know what they were discussing whether it was about the US$50 million deal or the military trucks that they used,” he said. He said he wondered what had changed for the FRA case to be special and wondered what kind of a fight against corruption that was. “That’s encouraging corruption,” Mr. Zulu said.
