Maravi

BY a 'corporate amphibian'

BY a 'corporate amphibian'
By Bivan Saluseki
Monday April 16, 2007 [04:00]

OPPOSITION ZRP president Ben Mwila yesterday called himself a 'corporate amphibian' who was still sorting out his papers before he could declare his assets to the Chief Justice. In an interview yesterday, Mwila said he had not yet declared his assets.
"I am just putting papers together. I am a corporate person. I am an amphibian. We have to get the papers ready," he said.

In 2001 Mwila was the wealthiest presidential candidate with a net assets' value of K26.7 billion. He was followed by late UPND president Anderson Mazoka and President Levy Mwanawasa with K10.8 billion and K5.8 billion respectively.

In 2006 though, President Mwanawasa's assets were valued at K9.8 billion.
United Democratic Alliance (UDA) presidential candidate Hakainde Hichilema emerged as the wealthiest of all the five aspiring presidential candidates with a net worth of K23.6 billion, declared to Chief Justice Ernest Sakala.

Mwila did not want to talk more about his assets but promised he would soon declare them since the financial year ended 31st March.

Mwila said he woke up very early because he was a hard worker and could not afford the luxury of sleep.

Mwila said he should not be written off in the 2011 elections.
He said some people thought since he was the only one in Parliament, the party had seized to exist.

"Sooner or later, they will be surprised. Our party has never died. We went through unnecessary turbulence," he said.

Mwila said ZRP did not believe in confrontational politics.
"We want to entrench democratisation and economic development as one of our cornerstones. We are not there for confrontational politics. Watch us in 2011. They are talking about 50 per cent plus one in the new constitution not so? Can you write us off?" he asked.

Mwila said his constituency (Nchelenge) was still facing problems of water shortages.
Mwila said despite government stating that it had spent K2 billion to rectify the problem, residents still had no access to running water.

And Mwila said Zambia's resources were now free for all. Mwila said what was coming out of Parliament through the Public Accounts Committee showed that resources were free for all.

He said such misuse of public resources was linked to a weak constitution.
Mwila said a good constitution would guard against careless misuse of resources.
He said it was the wish of every Zambian that they had a new constitution and there was no need to be acrimonious over the document.

Mwila said Zambians were peaceful people and should demand for a constitution in a peaceful way.

Mwila said it was a pity he was not invited for the Oasis Forum consultative meeting at Mulungushi International Conference Centre.

Labels: BEN MWILA, CONSTITUTION, VERNON MWAANGA

posted by MrK @ 3:35 AM