Africa-Press – Zambia. Ministry of Information and Media Spokesperson Thabo Kawana says he is ready to be investigated over the purchase of a luxurious car that he bought as a gift for his wife costing over K1 million.
In an interview, Kawana said anyone who suspects that the money used was obtained through corrupt activities should report him to the Anti-Corruption Commission or any other investigative wing.
“People are free to report me to the police, report me to the Anti Corruption Commission, report me to the DEC. They can even go and report me to the FBI, CIA, they are free. I’ve done nothing wrong, I’m open. I should be afraid of what? The people are suspecting that I used money which was corruptly obtained or whatever. So, you as News Diggers, you are an investigative newspaper, if that is what I claimed, you pick-up yourselves, you go to the Public Finance Micro Institution, find out, ‘did Kawana get a loan here? Where are his documents?’ From there you go to Southern Cross Motors, ‘did Kawana get a vehicle here, how much was it? Was it tax free?’ It is this much. That vehicle is 30 something dollars, and people are talking about $60,000. Please feel free, let anybody who wants to report me, report me anywhere. That is why I have added, if they feel that ACC, DEC and police are not going to do anything because I’m a government official, they can even go to the CIA, FBI,” he said.
He expressed concern at the high levels of ignorance portrayed by some members of the public on civil servant entitlement. “Well, I think for me what I learn is, a generation without information is dangerous because if these people are ignorant of what civil servants are entitled to… Even when you have explained to people that I got this thing here, I didn’t buy this thing outside Zambian, it’s at East Park Mall. Nobody is going there to check how much it is, but people are flying figures all over, some even claiming that ‘I have done my research’. Where have you researched from? The place is at East Park Mall in Lusaka. The place where I got the loan from is in Roma in Lusaka but nobody is bothered to go there and yet they just want to spread sensational lies and keep saying things that do not exist,” he said.
“I think the idea as a nation for us being very petty, very jealous towards each other is really taking root because it’s difficult to explain it any other way apart from people being petty, and jealous. The institutions I mentioned are here, they are in Lusaka. They said ‘where did you get the money?’ I said I got it from here. So, the easiest thing you do is go and check, isn’t it? ‘The man claims he got money from here, did he? Then the man claims he bought this car from here and we hear it is US$60,000. How much is it?’ And these people are also advertising everyday how much these vehicles cost, duty free, and how much they cost with duty. And someone says ‘I have done my research, it is US$60,000′”.
Kawana said he took full responsibility of all the social media trends about the vehicle purchase. “You know, it’s baffling and I want to reemphasise. My apology is based on the fact that those pictures caused public discomfort and uproar, and I am very sorry that they ended up causing that. I did not post them, and none of the people in my household posted them. So, even if people leaked them, I still take full responsibility by accepting that yes, those are my pictures, they were leaked and I’m sorry about that,” said Kawana.
“I’m a civil servant, it’s difficult maybe for the party to summon me, but I think my superiors within the civil service are people who know me very well and they can also see that there is no issue here because for you to get a loan, you go through levels of approvals. So, they approved the loan, so then they will see people saying he stole money to buy that car. What can they ask me apart from comforting me to say please this is how people are, ignore them”.
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