Lungu Loves To Dine and Wine With Corrupt People — Mweetwa

UNITED Party for National Development (UPND) deputy Spokesperson, Cornelius Mweetwa says president Lungu’s statement on the presumption of innocence until proven guilty by the courts of law over Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya means he likes dinning and wining with corrupt individuals.

This was in response to Mr. Lungu’s statement that he would not interfere in the operations of the organs of the state such as the police, Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) and the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) after he disclosed that he would wait for corrupt laden Health Minister, Chitalu Chilufya to be cleared or convicted by the courts of law before he could fire or retire him.

Speaking at the party secretariat yesterday, Mweetwa, who is also Choma central constituency Member of Parliament stated that Lungu’s massaging of Ministers who have found themselves at the wrong side of the law meant he the president supported lawlessness and debauchery
from his appointees.

The Choma Central lawmaker added that the UPND was left with no option but to conclude that Mr Lungu enjoyed the company and friendship of corrupt people.

Mweetwa made it clear that the violation of Article 8 of the Zambian constitution was sending a message to ministers and other senior government officials that it didn’t matter whether someone was facing corruption allegations as long as they were free at the hands of Mr Lungu.

He wondered what precedence Mr Lungu was setting by allowing those facing corruption charges to continue occupying public office when his predecessor, the late Michael Chilufya Sata fired and suspended any minister accused of indulging in graft.

Mweetwa stated that the utterances were a breach of his inaugural speech and promise that he was not going to betray the confidence of the Zambian people when he blatantly chose to embrace those who were facing corruption charges.

The Choma central lawmaker alleged that Lungu’s tolerance towards Dr Chilufya wouldn’t have been tolerated if the person involved in the corruption scandal was a headmaster, a teacher, a police officer, a nurse or a director or any ordinary employee.

Mr Mweetwa charged that failure by Mr Lungu to allow for the
expediency prosecution of Dr Chilufya amounted to allowing corruption to flourish under his watch in the country.

This article originally appeared on Lusaka Times