(LUSAKATIMES) Musokotwane should have declared interest – Zulu

Musokotwane should have declared interest – Zulu
TIME PUBLISHED - Tuesday, December 27, 2011, 10:20 pm

FORMER Finance minister Situmbeko Musokotwane should have declared interest in a transaction in which his company supplied blocks for construction of the Varun Beverages plant in Lusaka.

Justice Minister, Sebastian Zulu said the former minister should not have allowed a company in which he had interest to engage in a transaction with Varun, the producer of Pepsi drinks.

Mr Zulu said this in reaction to revelations that ZamBuild Investments Limited, in which Dr Musokotwane is a shareholder, supplied blocks for the construction of Varun Beverages in the industrial area.

He said the transaction raised issues of morality of a public officer, who was in charge of the Ministry of Finance and National Planning at the time Varun was getting established in Zambia.

And Patriotic Front (PF) national youth chairperson, Chishimba Kambwili has said revelations that Dr Musokotwane’s company supplied blocks for construction of the Pepsi plant in Lusaka showed that there was ‘recklessness’ in the handling of public affairs during the MMD administration.

Mr Kambwili, who is Foreign Affairs Minister, has since advised Dr Musokotwane to resign as Liuwa Member of Parliament (MP) on moral grounds.

He said the former minister should have declared interest in the matter given that he was Finance minister at the time Varun was getting established in Zambia.

“My only advice to Dr Musokotwane is that he should resign as MP because his hands are soiled. Law makers should be above board and as such, it will only be good if he resigns on moral grounds,” Mr Kambwili said in an interview.

Dr Musokotwane said ZamBuild could have supplied the bricks because they were of high quality and that he was only a shareholder in the company.

[Times of Zambia]