Maravi

There was big looting under Rupiah - Mangani

There was big looting under Rupiah - Mangani
By Kombe Chimpinde, Henry Sinyangwe in Lusaka and Christopher M
Mon 28 Nov. 2011, 13:59 CAT

THE abuse of resources that Zambians witnessed in late Fredrick Chiluba's 10-year rule will be nothing compared to the looting that went on during Rupiah Banda's three years in power, says Lameck Mangani.

And MMD Solwezi Central member of parliament Lucky Mulusa says the unearthing of K2.1 billion from Austin Liato's farm shows the recklessness of some individuals who served in the previous government.

Commenting on the K2.1 billion that law enforcement officers dug out at Liato's Mwembeshi farm last Thursday, Mangani, in an interview, said what had been unearthed showed the levels of looting that happened in the Banda regime.

"There was basically big looting. We are also aware that some of the innocent .

Zambians are keeping vehicles illegally acquired by MMD and keeping them in tents," Mangani said. He said the case of Liato was a clear example of how greedy some leaders were in Africa.

"Even during the Meanwood and NAPSA transactions, I remember honourable Liato supported it heavily when people questioned the deal and said it was not correct. He took it upon himself and went all the way to defend the transaction. I am not a police officer but these could be areas of interest for investigations," Mangani said.

"In fact I am aware that most of the ministers have been moving in and out of Zambia trying to hide one or two things. I want to warn, however, that there is nothing that can be hidden even the houses that we hear some people bought will be known soon."

Mangani said he was also aware that some former government officials had engaged lawyers to try and alter property titles.

"This sends bad signal about the previous government we had. How could the president allow such a thing? If Liato was a gold dealer as reported earlier on, when did he start being a gold dealer as a minister?" he asked.

Mangani said it was not only Liato but many others who were engaged in corrupt acts and were on the verge of being discovered.

"There are many people that could be in a similar position like that of Liato. So I want to appeal to the police to continue investigating these matters for the benefit of Zambians," he said.

"…We African leaders, what is killing us is greed. Liato was a minister of labour, he is aware that some of the labourers are getting as little as K150,000, what was his moral conscience when he was going to work, he has money in a trench of over K2 billion, and for someone to have K2 billion after the elections, how much was there before?"

Mangani said such greediness, if not curbed, could destroy chances of the country developing to higher levels.

He said the K2.1 billion hidden at Liato's farm generated a lot of suspicions about the MMD.

However, the MMD has distanced itself from the case and has since suspended Liato with immediate effect saying the matter could not be defended by the party as it was personal.

"If it was clean money, why keeping it in the trenches and not the bank? This matter gives a lot of suspicions on the part of the MMD and they should not call it a witch-hunt," said Mangani.

And Mulusa, in an interview, said some individuals in the former cabinet had caused much damage to the country.

''That discovery of K2.1 billion from Liato's farm has really saddened us especially those of us who were never part of the previous government.

We are new members of parliament, we came in innocently and we campaigned for the party hoping that the party would be retained but we did not know the extent to which this party, the MMD, has caused so much damage," Mulusa said.

He said he could only apologise for the campaign messages which were delivered in the run-up to the September 20 elections in order to convince the people to vote for the MMD.

We can only imagine the damage that MMD would have done had we managed to retain power. We now feel that we need to step up our efforts to serve the people and ensure that while the MMD is still living, it is transformed into a party with a productive outcome, said Mulusa.

And Chitambo MMD member of parliament Mushili Malama said the MMD should not die following the wrongdoings of the previous leadership.

"While the previous leadership did some wrongs, we feel that it should not die but must be given a fresh set of leadership to ensure that it carries on with the noble dream that underwrote its birth in 1991," said Malama.

Labels: AUSTIN LIATO, LAMECK MANGANI, NAPSA

posted by MrK @ 5:55 PM