Arrest Kaande for corruption - Sondashi

Arrest Kaande for corruption - Sondashi
Written by Patson Chilemba
Tuesday, March 03, 2009 12:33:33 PM

MMD senior member Dr Ludwig Sondashi on Tuesday charged that party deputy national secretary Jeff Kaande should be arrested for alleged corruption. And Inspector General of police Francis Kabonde said police had instituted investigations against Kaande.

Commenting on KaandeÕs request to then home affairs permanent secretary Susan Sikaneta to pay suppliers over K1 billion because they had pledged to support MMD, Dr Sondashi charged that what Kaande did was criminal, unlawful and unconstitutional.

ÒIn fact if you read between the lines, you will discover that what heÕs talking about reprimanding the suppliers is not true. It was a forged up understanding to defraud the government. He was organizing fraud so that government should pay more money. The criminal investigators should arrest him. This is what I am against about the MMD,Ó Dr Sondashi said. ÒWhen I talked about corruption, it was Jeff Kaande who was talking nonsense. It seems he has been doing this for a longtime. I agree that itÕs against the constitution because the constitution does not say that MMD should have an advantage, what about others?Ó

Dr Sondashi said it was sad and shameful that when the matter was heating up, Kaande found solace in organizing MMD cadres to march to State House where they were entertained by President Rupiah Banda. He said this was a clear manifestation of where President Banda stood in the fight against corruption.

Dr Sondashi said it was sad that president Banda kept on singing continuity when his activities were contrary to what he said.

ÒWhy did Mr. Rupiah Banda accept something that is being done by corrupt officials to organize that protest? These are things which worry me a lot. As far as I am concerned, Mr. Rupiah Banda is not coming out clearly to condemn corruption because he should have condemned Kaande,Ó said Dr Sondashi. ÒSo we are really worried about the behavior of our President. How can someone say heÕs following the footsteps of Levy Mwanawasa when he is doing the opposite?Ó

And Kabonde said police have instituted investigations into the alleged corruption involving Kaande and Sikaneta. He said Patriotic Front (PF) Kanyama member of parliament Gerry Chanda presented a formal complaint before police.

According to correspondence obtained by The Post, Kaande in November last year requested Sikaneta to pay over K1 billion to seven food suppliers that pledged financial support to the ruling party.

The documents revealed that the figures for Liki Enterprise on KaandeÕs list was inflated by over K380 million while two other suppliers were not owed anything by the Ministry of Home Affairs although Kaande stated that they were owed K50 million each.

In his letter dated 11th November 2008 to Sikaneta on the MMD letterhead, Kaande requested her to facilitate the payments according to what they had discussed earlier.

"List of companies pledging to support the party," read Kaande's letter in part. "Please consider assisting the companies below as discussed: - (1) Sunlight Estates - 300,000,000 (2) Dakwa General Dealers- 291,000,000 (3) Mavin Marketing - 130,000,000 (4) Miyele Enterprise - 95,000,000 (5) Liki Enterprise-400,000,000 (6) Bangosho Enterprise-50,000,000 (7) Mark Marketing-50,000,000. Total 1,025,000,000."

When contacted for comment on Monday, Sikaneta confirmed having received Kaande's letter but referred all queries to the current permanent secretary because she was no longer in charge at Ministry of Home Affairs.

Kaande later, in response to people that were condemning him for his action, warned that he would reprimand the seven suppliers for inflating amounts of money owed to them by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Kaande said he and the MMD had learnt a lesson not to believe cadres on face value.

Kaande said he did not inflate the figures but that MMD cadres themselves had given him figures that were higher than what was in the records at the Ministry of Home Affairs.