Maravi

Sata questions Rupiah’s soliciting of funds from diplomats

Sata questions Rupiah’s soliciting of funds from diplomats
By Chibaula Silwamba
Sat 16 Apr. 2011, 04:01 CAT

MICHAEL Sata says President Rupiah Banda's solicitation of funds from Zambia's Ambassadors and High Commissioners is a presidential directive to diplomats to divert money from their missions and send it for his campaign.

Commenting on President Banda's appeal to the diplomats on Thursday during their meeting in Chisamba that they should donate funds to his and the MMD's campaign in this year's elections, Sata said President Banda's open solicitation of money from the envoys confirmed that the ruling party had always been getting money from missions abroad for campaigns hence the numerous reports of misuse of funds at embassies as revealed by the Auditor General's report.

“That is the direct presidential directive that those diplomats should divert money from their missions and send it to Lusaka for his campaign. That is wrong. The anomalies are the same. For example, where did MMD spokesperson and education minister Dora Siliya get K80 million to donate in Petauke? Where is the DEC Drug Enforcement Commission?” Sata said.

“They have no regard for the Auditor General and financial regulations and those are the problems you find with Mr Rupiah Banda because he has no regard for anything. The Zambian people themselves can either tolerate this abuse or not.” Sata said the MMD was using public funds in its campaigns as seen from the Ministry of Health saga where the government was willingly paying back stolen money to the Global Fund without any difficulties because they embezzled without letting the culprits to pay back.

“The government has admitted that they stole money from the Global Fund. That is why they are refunding that money without bringing the culprits to book because they used Global Fund money for campaigning and that is why the government is refunding that money without any difficulty,” Sata said.

“If the government did not have a hand in that we should have seen the culprits who stole that money, the billions which the government is refunding.” On Thursday, President Banda openly told Zambia's Ambassadors and High Commissioners accredited to various countries to donate money to his and the MMD's campaigns in this year's elections and commended them for funding the just-ended convention of the ruling party.

President Banda said the MMD convention was wonderful because of donations from the diplomats and urged them to continue funding the party, particularly this year's campaign. This was in sharp contrast with his foreign affairs minister, Kabinga Pande, who earlier in the week told the diplomats that Zambia's foreign missions continue to be sources of abuse of funds as cited by the numerous queries by the Auditor Generals' report. Pande, when he opened the meeting, called on heads of missions abroad to stop the abuse of funds.

Labels: AUDITOR GENERAL, CORRUPTION, EMBASSIES, KABINGA PANDE, MICHAEL SATA, PF, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 4:19 AM