PF offered K6m for Bill 10 ‘passing vote’, reveals Mweetwa

Choma Central UPND member of parliament Cornelius Mweetwa has revealed that the PF offered K6 million to a UPND MP for a vote passing Bill 10.

Mweetwa was responding to Lusaka Province minister Bowman Lusambo, who challenged him to produce evidence that PF ministers bribed UPND members of parliament to vote for Constitution (Amendment) Bill No. 10 of 2019.

He said the issue was not about being man enough but a serious national issue which should not be taken lightly.

“If PF are used to jokes, for us in the UPND, we don’t have time to be joking around. We have a country to govern, so when leaders are speaking, they must be honest,” he said.

“Let Bowman Lusambo swallow his pride and either shut up or apologise on his own behalf and on behalf of his friends for bribing members of parliament to vote for Bill 10. Let him not play around this matter as if it is a circus.”

Mweetwa said he would not respond to Lusambo by way of giving him evidence.

He said whoever felt injured by his statement should commence defamation suit.

Mweetwa said there was no urgency that could have caused the House to adjourn without completing business on the order paper. On Wednesday, Parliament adjourned sine die citing the two coronavirus cases that Zambia recorded.

“There was no report of coronavirus having entered Parliament buildings which would have sent the whole House into a state of panic. So who would give justification that Parliament had to abandon its proceedings and failed to finish business on the order paper because of coronavirus? Who do they want to mock like that?” Mweetwa asked.

He said when PF failed to garner numbers to pass Bill 10, they tried to hide behind the issue of the coronavirus.

“I have a list of ministers and if Bowman and his friends are going to dare me and push me more than they have already done, I will publish their names and I can confirm that on that list some of them are my friends but it doesn’t matter; provided you were given a task,” Mweetwa said. “They know themselves. They know who was tasked to deal with the two UPND MPs on the Copperbelt, they know the ministers who were given the task to deal with Central Province, and how angry they were when they did not succeed, the ministers who were given the task to deal with Western Province, Southern Province. We know all who were tasked to deal with who.”

He said his party was also aware that an independent member of parliament who realised that they were blindly supporting PF who were instead giving UPND members colossal sums of money for Bill 10, and decided to stay away from Parliament on the actual day until they were given money they demanded.

“Can they deny it? Whatever has been happening is known. We are also aware that one of the members of parliament who remained in that House actually was given K750,000. That person was promised K2 million and they gave him K750,000 advance and that person is now demanding the balance. Can they deny?” Mweetwa said. “You see, when it was D-day, can they deny that they offered a K6 million to a UPND member of parliament but he rejected the K6 million. Can they deny? And if they start denying, we will start naming them one by one. Can they deny that on the last day they offered K6 million that ‘for casting the winning vote, here is K6 million’. They should not play games.”

Mweetwa praised UPND members for refusing the money from PF, and said he would “very soon” start naming and shaming the PF ministers.

He said when Parliament re-opens, PF is bound to lose more members.

“Because a number of PF members of parliament who I had a caucus with are very annoyed that despite them remaining very loyal to the cause of PF, even when they did not agree with Bill 10, they sacrificed their integrity to stand there to vote for Bill 10, they are very annoyed to learn that actually PF had colossal sums of money to dish to the opposition. So they now have a huge undertaking as we go forward. If the only way to pass Bill 10 is to buy MPs, they now have to look for money to give their own backbench,” he said. “Otherwise, Bill 10 collapsed on Wednesday and it is currently lying in political mortuary awaiting burial when Parliament resumes.”

Mweetwa urged PF members of parliament trying to justify their actions to continue “running all over the show” to launder their images.

On Professor Geoffrey Lungwangwa and Teddy Kasonso who defied the UPND position and sided with the PF on Bill 10, Mweetwa said they were working well according to the game plan.

Source: The Mast