Shut up Musosha!
Shut up Musosha!By Editor
Monday October 15, 2007 [04:00]
We are not surprised that Luapula Province minister Chrispin Musosha has the audacity to taunt and mock with insults those who are trying to ensure that the government walks the talk in its fight against corruption.
We say we are not surprised because it looks like President Levy Mwanawasa’s administration is very tolerant and accommodating to acts that border on abuse of authority when ministers or those serving him in one way or another are involved. A few weeks ago, we reported that our Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is under extreme pressure from higher authorities not to prosecute Southern Province minister Joseph Mulyata for abuse of authority of office following his irregular release of a bus belonging to MMD cadre Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba after it was impounded by the Road Development Agency officials for absconding the weighbridge.
The powers that be think Mulyata’s case is a small issue which should be dealt with or resolved administratively. But if this is a small issue, why did the Director of Public Prosecutions authorise the ACC to prosecute Mulyata for abuse of authority of office?
Today, as we write, Mulyata is busy working and the ACC have not effected the arrest despite confirming that Mulyata would be taken to court for prosecution. We doubt if Mulyata will ever be prosecuted because from the outset, those in government felt we were raising a storm in a tea cup by reporting on Mulyata’s activities in Livingstone that bordered on abuse of authority.
Last week, we exposed a similar incident in which Musosha was reported to have harassed and threatened to dismiss forestry officers that impounded his truck carrying illegal charcoal that was unlicensed.
The story is that Musosha’s son, Clive, who was driving the truck, strongly resisted arrest because the truck belonged to his minister father. However, the uncompromising forestry officers managed to impound the truck and charged Clive for illegal possession and transportation of unlicensed charcoal and resisting arrest.
When this news reached him, Musosha, like Mulyata, found his way to the forestry offices and forcefully ordered the release of the impounded truck and threatened officers with dismissals.
But as a citizen who would like to play a role in Levy’s fight against corruption and quest to promote good governance, Given Lubinda called on the ACC to investigate the matter and take corrective action against culprits. This is the call that attracted Musosha to say Lubinda is behaving like a dog that barks even at its own shadow because he is not expected to answer or pay for his son’s sins.
Regrettably, this nonsense from our ministers will continue for as long as Levy entertains it. We know Musosha today has the energy to stand on an anthill and attempt to cleanse himself because only the other day, his son paid the K1.5 million admission of guilt fine. And for Musosha, it’s only his son who was in conflict with the law, not himself.
But when we contacted him for comment before the story was first published, why did he refuse to comment and explain that it was his son who was guilty and not himself? Why did Musosha refer us to Luapula Province acting permanent secretary Clement Siame for comment when this is a personal matter? Isn’t this the same abuse of authority we are talking about?
And why did Musosha commandeer the provincial commanding officer to accompany him as he went to shout at forestry officers if this issue concerned only his adult son who should be answerable for his misdeeds?
The fact is Musosha misconducted himself in this matter. He used bad language against forestry officers. He threatened and intimidated them. We know about all the meetings Clement Siame has been having with these same forestry officers to clean up the mess and shame that his boss Musosha brought upon his government. If Musosha did nothing wrong, why has Siame been meeting these officials to resolve the matter and normalise their working relationship as government workers? We challenge Siame to deny that he has been meeting with the affected officials in a bid to resolve this matter. But if this is a matter only to do with Musosha’s son, why involve all these senior government officials to discuss the private matters of a minister’s son?
We know Musosha might not be investigated because he has the full backing of his masters who usually categorise such incidents as ‘small issues’, but we advise him to shut up because we know that he is not as clean in this matter as he wants the public to believe.
We want to remind Levy, yet again, that it is incidents like these that erode public confidence in his fight against corruption. Clearly, public perception that there are sacred cows in the fight against corruption cannot be said to be misplaced. How can one explain ACC’s failure to arrest someone when the DPP has given them authority to prosecute?
We know someone in government might argue that ACC is independent in its operations. But we also know that a heavy hand outside ACC is weighing heavily, pushing the ACC into silence on this matter. However, a precedence is being set. Tomorrow, another minister will break the law with impunity knowing that such actions are ‘small issues’ in Levy’s administration and are therefore handled or resolved administratively. Well, it looks like it pays to belong to the New Deal government.
Labels: ACC, CHRISPINE MUSOSHA, GIVEN LUBINDA
posted by MrK @ 4:45 AM
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