Maravi

Rupiah, friends turning country into a looters' paradise - Sejani

Rupiah, friends turning country into a looters' paradise - Sejani
By Patson Chilemba
Sat 31 July 2010, 04:23 CAT

ACKSON Sejani has charged that President Rupiah Banda and his friends are turning the country into a looters' paradise by removing the abuse of office clause from the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Act.

And Patriotic Front (PF) spokesperson Given Lubinda said those asserting that President Banda and his cohorts want to create a paradise for plundering national resources are justified.

Reacting to works and supply minister Mike Mulongoti’s statement that the abuse of office clause had proved harmful in the management process, Sejani who is Mapatizya UPND member of parliament, said removing the said clause from the Act amounted to giving looters a licence to plunder resources. He said those currently in government feared that action would be taken against them once they were out of office.

“This MMD government which is corrupt from the core and to the core is trying to insulate itself against definite moves which will follow once they are out of their positions,” Sejani said. “If there was anything that Zambians have been waiting for to confirm that this government is corrupt, it is these manoeuvres. Everybody who was doubting must now know.

You know, it’s like a murderer going round advocating the removal of the death penalty from the statute books.” Sejani said plunderers would now go on a rampage, looting as much as they wish.

He said President Banda and his friends wanted to institutionalise corruption by introducing laws that would protect them. “The effect of corruption is very well known by everybody. So if looters are going to be protected, then it means that the future of the country is doomed really,” Sejani said.

On President Banda’s role in the matter, Sejani wondered what to expect from him since he was elected corruptly. He said it was revealed in the media that President Banda donated sugar and other food items during campaigns for the 2008 presidential elections. “He is a corruptly elected President.

He wants to maintain his hold on power using corruption. So he would be very happy about this development. Mind you he is the chairman of the Cabinet which is going to bring this bill to Parliament,” Sejani said.

“If he didn’t want this development, he would have dealt against it. But because he is going to be chairman of Cabinet that is going to preside over this bill which is going to be brought to Parliament, so he must be in approval.” Sejani said only public workers with a propensity for wrongdoing were scared of making decisions on account of the said clause.

Sejani said the country should have many good laws to pin down looters. And Lubinda said it was total mischief on the part of the government to remove the clause. “Those who are reading this to mean Mr Rupiah Banda and his cohorts of plunderers want to create a paradise for plundering resources are right.

There have been some arguments that have been advanced that this law is provided for in the Penal Code and that having it in the ACC Act is duplicity,” Lubinda said. “That is a shallow argument because in the Penal Code, the onus to prove abuse is on the prosecution. In the ACC Act, the onus is on the suspected plunderer.”

He said in the ACC Act, cognisance was made of the fact that society was vulnerable to those who held public office, while the Penal Code took cognisance that a person was innocent until proven guilty. Lubinda noted that President Banda asked Vice-President George Kunda to present the Forfeiture of Stolen Property Act to Parliament, and yet that protocol required laws which penalised public officers.

“Since Zambia is a signatory to those instruments, it is extremely mischievous of Rupiah Banda’s government to hide behind human rights, and yet opening avenues for rampant abuse of public property,” said Lubinda.

Mulongoti last Monday said public officers were now afraid to make decisions for fear of being criminalised on account of the abuse of office clause in the ACC Act.

Labels: ACC, ACKSON SEJANI, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 3:19 PM