Maravi

DEC’s pursuit of Sata doesn’t make sense - Chongwe

DEC’s pursuit of Sata doesn’t make sense - Chongwe
By George Chellah
Sun 28 Nov. 2010, 04:02 CAT

DEC has lost it over their pursuit of Mich-ael Sata’s source of US$100,000, Lusaka lawyer Dr Rodger Chongwe has said.

In a statement, Dr Chongwe observed that instead of the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) pursuing Sata over the source of his US$100,000 they should be questioning Frederick Chiluba about the source of the US$8 million he put in the Zamtrop account and which he claims to be his personal money.

“Forty-six years after independence a leader of a political party in our country is hauled to the offices of one of the law enforcement agents to explain why his personal account was credited with an amount of US$100,000. …But only twelve months ago a former president of Zambia claimed that an amount of US$8 million which was in a Zambian government account was his own money given to him by friends and well-wishers when he was in office. He has named none of these friends and well-wishers!” Dr Chongwe stated.

He stated that Zambians did not know if Chiluba collected this money he chose to bank in a government account.

“Neither have government authorities hauled this former president to their offices to demand an explanation as to the actual source of the money. True that the former president did not claim the US$8 million was a political donation to his political party. All he has told members of the public is that this US$8 million is his own money banked in a government account,” he stated.

He acknowledged that Zambia had a problem relating to donations to political parties.

He stated that before independence in 1964 members of a political party were responsible for raising funds for the running and organisation of their various political parties.

He stated that during the one party state the only political party was directly funded from government revenue.

He stated that with the return of political pluralism, state funding of UNIP ceased but the MMD, after winning the 1991 elections, did not enact a law for the funding of political parties.

“This was and continues to be an omission of immense proportions and has been the cause of political disadvantage to political parties outside government,” he stated.

He stated that it was a prerequisite to any democratic system that there should be a level political playing field between and among the political parties in the contest.

“This means that a mechanism should be put in place to ensure that all the political parties, particularly those with seats in the national legislature, are funded proportionate to the number of their seats in the legislature. Such funding should be governed by an Act of the Legislature,” Dr Chongwe stated.

“The statute should also provide for disclosure for any additional funding received by a political party from other sources. These sources should include both domestic and foreign. Political parties should then open their books for inspection by an independent auditor and the Auditor General’s office since part of the source of the money is from taxpayers.”

Dr Chongwe stated that it was an open secret that the MMD obtained a lot of its funding from the taxpayers’ money and from the private sector.

Labels: DEC, MICHAEL SATA, ROGER CHONGWE, ZAMTROP

posted by MrK @ 4:31 PM