Africa-Press – Zambia. MPOROKOSO PF member of parliament Brian Mundubile says citizens should interrogate the manner in which the “so-called” asset recovery process is being conducted, arguing that it is a total abuse of the law.
And Mundubile says only friends of the UPND can claim that the democratic space has not shrunk.
Commenting on British High Commissioner to Zambia Nicholas Woolley’s statement that Zambia’s progress in terms of asset recovery was impressive, and that its civic space had not shrunk, Mundubile emphasised the need to interrogate the asset recovery process.
“First of all, we must interrogate the manner in which the so-called asset recovery is being conducted. For us, it is the total abuse of the law. The law that talks about possession of properties suspected to be proceeds of crime, government has used that, it has weaponised the law enforcement agency just to recover assets from innocent people. Children of politicians, these are politicians who have worked for over 20 years. They have had careers in the past and because they have decided to gift their children certain assets, the UPND government is going after those and collecting [their properties] all in the name of asset recovery. We have to look at justice as fairness. So, the fight against corruption, the recovery of assets should be interrogated. All those who are commenting on the recovery of assets must be sincere,” he said.
“Because we all know that the there is no fight against corruption. What we have is political persecution. The people that are targeted are known. What we expected our cooperating partners to focus on is the corruption that is going on at Mopani today. We expect them to turn their lens to begin to see corruption. What’s happening at KCM, what’s happening in the entire mining sector”.
And Mundubile said only friends of the UPND could claim that the democratic space had not shrunk.
“We know that the good people who will think the democratic space is not shrinking are those who come maybe from countries that are directly or indirectly benefiting from the UPND government. Whether it is in the mining sector or many other sectors. To those people, those citizens of other countries, President Hakainde Hichilema has delivered. And he has delivered his promises, and they will do everything possible to defend him. An average Zambian on the streets who was told that mealie meal will be K50 [but it] is now at K450 cannot say in any way that President Hakainde has delivered. An average Zambian who is now buying fuel at the price of K35 per liter from K17 per liter cannot in anyway say President Hakainde Hichilema has delivered,” said Mundubile.
“An average Zambian who is being load shed for over 12 hours [a day] cannot say President Hakainde Hichilema has delivered. So, for those that speak to democratic space being increased are those that are able to speak freely because they are friends of the UPND. An ordinary person with an alternative view against the UPND is no longer allowed to speak. So, it will be shocking for anybody to say the democratic space has not shrunk. It will be very shocking for us Zambians. The obvious fact is that there is no political party which has been allowed to hold a political rally beginning 2021 and now. What remains the fact is that we have the highest number of arrests for people who are just aimed to speak out on the government performance and various issues”.
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