Maravi

We have been independent since 1964, Kunda tells donors

We have been independent since 1964, Kunda tells donors
By Misheck Wangwe in Mufulira
Mon 28 June 2010, 08:00 CAT

VICE-President George Kunda has charged that it is an insult for donors to create an impression that the Zambian government is looting national coffers.

Speaking upon arrival from Lusaka at Mufulira Airstrip on Saturday, Vice-President Kunda said the government, under the leadership of President Rupiah Banda, would never allow donors to interfere in the affairs of the country.

Vice-President Kunda said Zambia was a sovereign state that had been taking care of its own affairs and the government would not allow the donor community to interfere in the country’s internal matters.

“We have been independent since 1964 and we’ve been looking after our own affairs. We shall fight corruption, yes, we shall fight corruption but at the same time, we don’t want them to create an impression that day in day out we are looting our national coffers,” Vice-President Kunda said.

He said it was an insult to the Zambian people for the donors to create an impression that the Zambian government was corrupt.

Vice-President Kunda said Zambians should seriously guard the country’s sovereignty.
He said while the government appreciates funds from outside, donors must also respect the country’s dignity.

He said it would be totally unacceptable for some donors to treat the country as if it were still a colony.

Vice-President Kunda said while the ruling MMD was committed to the fight against corruption, it would never “stigmatise wealth”.

He said the government would never embark on witch-hunting for corrupt practices but would endeavour to encourage people to get rich through hard work.

“I’ve seen when I was landing that people have built houses because they are hard-working. Go to Lusaka, go to Solwezi and see for yourself how the construction industry is booming in Zambia. People are building mansions. This is due to the policy that was embarked on by the second Republic president Frederick Chiluba and as the current government, we have been following this policy very well and we appreciate it. If you have got money, build; provided you are not involved in corruption,” Vice-President Kunda said.

He said the government was on a crusade to change the mindset of citizens for the country to appreciate enterprise as a key to the attainment of meaningful development.

“We want people to be rich. This is the position even in other countries. We should glorify hard work, and that’s why we have embarked on empowerment of citizens. It’s only through the spirit of hard work that we would develop this nation,” he said.

And Vice-President Kunda said the MMD government had managed to expose people who wrote about corruption on a daily basis but secretly borrowed US$3 million with the intention of not paying back.
He said some people were busy writing about corruption daily with the view to scaring everybody “when people were merely working hard to gain wealth.”

“If you build a house through hard work, these people will zero in on you and they will start making insinuations but we’ve exposed them. They secretly borrowed three million dollars, which they had no intentions of paying back. We have scandals like that,” he claimed. “Them they think they are clean and some of these donors, when you touch on their friends because we want to fight crime, we want to fight money laundering, they start saying government is victimising people. Those are double standards.”
He also claimed that some foreigners wanted to destroy the Judiciary by attacking judges.

Vice-President Kunda said judges had over the years managed to put the country together and people were enjoying peace and tranquility because of a judiciary held in high esteem even in the Commonwealth.

He said many countries admire the integrity of the Zambian Judiciary and send people to borrow ideas on how to run the judiciary and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

Later at the induction dinner for the new president of the Rotary Club of Mufulira Mwila Mutimushi, Vice-President Kunda said service organisations such as the Rotary Club of Mufulira occupied an important place in society as no government in the world was able to satisfy all the social needs of its people single-handedly.

Vice-President Kunda said service organisations played an important role in filling the gaps and supplementing the government’s efforts in the provision of social services, especially that Zambia had limited resources.

Rotary Club of Mufulira past president Frederick Kaoma said it was gratifying to note that members of the club were committed to the cause of service above self.

Labels: DONORS, GEORGE KUNDA

posted by MrK @ 3:37 PM