Thursday, March 28, 2024

ACC Acting Director General must be cited for contempt of Court – YALI

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The institutional autonomy of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) must not be confused with institutional omni-righteousness so as to insulate them from any fair criticism by anybody, including the Head of State, says Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI).

During a media briefing this morning addressed by YALI President Andrew Ntewewe this morning, the organisation agreed with President Lungu that selective crusade against corruption focused on President Lungu’s lieutenants is targeted at the President himself and his ability to hold the PF together ahead of 2021 elections and in good light with the voting public.

“The President would have been putting his head in the sand if he failed to point out that the anticorruption focus on his appointees is deliberately meant to create and achieve a narrative that he himself is surrounded by and runs a corrupt administration, which the Zambian people must resent next year,” says Mr Ntewewe.

Mr Ntewewe cited the example of the case of Dr. Chitalu Chilufya where he said the ACC has violated its own law which require that witnesses who testify are protected against disciplinary proceedings.

“In the case of Health Minister Dr. Chitalu Chilufya, the Anti-Corruption Commission has, in disregard of ongoing court proceedings and legal protection accorded to any witness who testify in court, suspended a State witness who testified in a manner the Acting Director-General and her Commission did not approve of. The question is why,” he said.

YALI has since called on the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Court to cite the Acting Director General for contempt of court and asked the Law Association of Zambia to discipline the Acting Director General for professional misconduct.

Mr Ntewewe also cited incidences when former Minister Chishimba Kambwili, Minister Chitotela, and Secretary to Cabinet Simon Miti, among other persons wo are the inner circle to the President, had been targets for corruption allegations in the recent past.

“We all know how much Chishimba Kambwili was said to have been corrupt while he served in President Lungu’s administration. Due to public pressure and perception created, President Lungu had no option but to relieve Mr. Kambwili of his ministerial position,” noted Ntewewe.

He said that now that Dr. Kambwili has moved to the other political side and singing the anticorruption song against his former colleagues in Government, he is no longer being seen in the same light as the man who was said to be corrupt.

“Suddenly, Mr. Kambwili is slowly being seen and embraced as a clean man in the eyes of his former accusers,” he said.

Yaliy has further said the politics associated with the corruption crusade has now been reduced to is trivialize what infrastructure agenda and the leadership being provided by President Lungu.

“It is now common knowledge that whenever President Lungu’s administration initiates any developmental project such as good roads for our people to move on, or construction of health posts so our people can have easy access to health facilities, or procurement of various services which are meant to support the welfare of Zambians, there is always a counter narrative created by those opposed to Government and his party, decrying corruption as one of the political tactics. The ultimate aim of putting this corruption tag on those appointed and entrusted by President to help him discharge executive functions is to discredit the President and the infrastructure agenda. As the YALI, we reiterate that Zambia cannot dilute the anti-corruption crusade to mere partisan politics,” said Ntewewe.

38 COMMENTS

  1. Privatise ACC and DEC….. plenty of buyers, ka chi.kala ka hh can buy just like he sold himself The Intercontinental Hotel in Livingstone

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  2. yali you are speaking sense. We know ACC has been infiltrated by those from opposition with political agendas. We will need to sweep it clean like we are doing with the Lusaaka city councils. Let’s get rid of the dirt

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  3. Takapite Kateka!! ………… I mean this one …… “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” 🙂

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  4. This is what people with hatred and envious motives have deliberately ignored in order for them to ascend to power. They have in addition overlooked the massive development apf has delivered within a very short time as compared to unip ,later ammd under new deal!!!!

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  5. Judge him on what and government have done for this country within short time using prudently the borrowed money!Unip and ammd failed to introduce the toll gates,open up the country by building proper roads,bridges,hydro power stations , schools, hospitals etc

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  6. Ba YALI what’s wrong with targeting the president if he is corrupt? The same words you use for the ACC can be used for the president
    The autonomy of the presidency must not be confused with institutional omni-righteousness so as to insulate the president from any fair criticism by anybody,

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  7. ACC conduct is very shameful. They should have done what they did quietly. The action has undermined the court

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  8. I had the same thought as Ntewewe. Yali has articulated very well. How can a witness be suspended who is b4 a well established court of law in order to appease a few individuals with very vague agenda which is aimed to bring the integrity of the state and its president into ridicule? Let the witness finish up his mandate. I can see that all these corruption allegations are fake aimed at nothing but to bring down the entire pf and its government. Ntewewe is a genius. Nobody could see this kind of gimmick.

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  9. This is a circus. This is what happens when independent governance institutions cant breathe under the current regime. Will we ever see the correct evidence of the corruption undertaken by the accused from ACC?? Perhaps we need another court case where ACC will present their case against a witness who misrepresented the evidence the ACC have against the accused? The ACC is an institution with mandate to pursue corruption cases. What is the mandate of YALI in this case? Who will be cited with contempt of court between the ACC and YALI? Now some characters want to claim there is political interference on ACC from the opposition instead of seeing the political interference from the PF and the accused on this witness who misrepresented the evidence ACC might have on the accused.

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  10. Corruption scandals:scandals 48 Houses Social Security Cash Luxury Presidential Jet Ambulances Fire Trucks Mukula Trees Ndola-Lusaka Rd Malawi Maizegate Fuelgate Swaziland landgate Zesco Loans Corruption scandals:scandals 48 Houses Social Security Cash Luxury Presidential Jet Ambulances Fire Trucks Mukula Trees Ndola-Lusaka Rd Malawi Maizegate Fuelgate Swaziland landgate Zesco Loans

    So this YALI thing is another branch of the PF and Lungu’s mouthpiece. The corruption of Lungu and his minions knows no bounds and only a sycophant could defend him. Lungu is the only tasked with the responsibility of being the custodian of the national treasury and he has access to it. The buck stops on him… that public tantrum he was showing the other day of scolding the council is nothing compared to the millions of dollars he has stolen and looted. This guy is corrupt to the teeth and anyone who says otherwise is being insincere. Negro please!

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  11. Sustaining corruption the Zanu PF style
    The arrest of Hopewell Chin’ono come as no surprise, Zimbabwe is a Banana Republic. Chin’ono exposed corruption in the regime and so the regime had him marked!
    Zimbabwe is a Banana Republic, a pariah state, governed by corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and murderous thugs. This is a fundamental reality that the people of Zimbabwe have stubbornly refused to acknowledge and thus to deal with these last 40 years. This is a folly that has haunted this nation and it is madness to continue to ignore!
    Zanu PF blatantly rigged the July 2018 elections. The regime did not even have the decency to produce something as basic a verified voters’ roll, for Pete’s sake. The EU, the Americans and everyone else with some much as half a brain dismissed the…

  12. Whats happening in Zambia is sad indeed. Corruption is now a matter of just talking and making allegations and the ACC has become so compromised! The President was right

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  13. Continue
    half a brain dismissed the elections as a farce. Everyone that is, except us, the people of Zimbabwe.
    Zimbabwe’s opposition participated in the elections with zeal; there were 23 candidates in the presidential race alone. Of course, all the opposition candidates KNEW with no implemented democratic reforms Zanu PF will rig the elections. God knows how many times that message had been hammered home. The opposition also knew that Zanu PF was giving away a few gravy train seats, bait to entice the opposition to participate and the bait was simply resistible.
    It is the cold indifference of the Zimbabweans, especially the intelligentsia, to the political machinations of both Zanu PF and the opposition that have condemned the nation what it is today – a basket case of a failed state…

  14. Continue
    – a basket case of a failed state. Of course, Zimbabwean have known Zanu PF has rigged elections for the last 40 years but they have ignored that because acknowledging it would have forced them to end Zanu PF’s illegitimate rule.
    Of course, most Zimbabweans now know that MDC leaders are breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent and that they sold-out big time in failing to implement the democratic reforms; there is overwhelming evidence to prove it. Yet many still continue to support the sell-out opposition leaders out of sheer intellectual laziness.
    The arrest of Hopewell Chin’ono is yet another reminder that Zimbabwe is a Banana Republic, a pariah state, ruled by the whims of ruthless dictators. What Chin’ono did was to expose the US$ 60 million Drax scandal which led to the…

  15. Continue
    What Chin’ono did was to expose the US$ 60 million Drax scandal which led to the arrest and firing of the then Minister of Health, Obadiah Moyo. There are a lot of other big fish implicated in this scandal including Mnangagwa’s own son. But worst of all corruption, vote rigging and other scandals are the life blood of a Banana Republic, stamp them out and the Zanu PF dictatorship will shrivel and die.
    Zanu PF cannot afford a hasty retreat on such fronts as corruption, democratic reforms, etc., the core of its political patronage system, and thus loose its iron grip on power. Hence the reason those like Chin’ono who are forcing the regime to address such issues as corruption must be arrested and silence.
    The Drax scandal has echoes of the Willowvale Motor scandal. Godfrey…

  16. Bernadette, why has the ACC become so compromised? Talking and making allegations is not the problem. What is needed is serious and professional independent investigations to provide evidence in court if and when such cases go to court. The constitutional freedom of speech and perceptions entails that there will be people talking and making allegations. What matters is to have serious and professional institutions to conduct credible investigations to present as evidence. Unfortunately a compromised ACC cannot conduct serious and professional independent investigations. As a country we still have serious work to restore and safeguard institutions mandated to conduct independent and professional investigations when it comes to cases of corruption involving Politically Exposed People (PEP)

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  17. This chola boy for lungu also ……

    CK was chased from PF because lungu feared a challenge to his leadership ……same as KBF

    And if CK is not corrupt as you say , why is he in court ?????

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  18. Signs that the country is finished. Is this noise from YALI and Kaizer considered as news. Just like ZNBC, if a minister opens his mouth, whether it is news worth or not, it will be on ZNBC TV news. How sad

  19. Draw Parallels, Robert Mugabe and Emmerson Munangagwa were and are part of the intelligentsia. They still let dwn the people, didn’t they? Wht do u do if even the intelligentsia aren’t interested in doing wht the framers of the concept had in mind? We’ve to look for another theory or concept to describe African elites.

  20. Why does the ACC allow itself to be infiltrated by tribal zealots everytime in the name of “fight against corruption”? During LPM’s reign we saw how President Chiluba with his tribesmen / easterners were treated with such sadism and wickedness. We saw vested interest at the Task Force Against Corruption; disgruntled tribalists arranged money from external donors, paid themselves and their lackeys to persecute the former Head Of State. Just read the editorials of the defunct Post Newspapers. Never mind the infiltration of the ACC tribalists, the buck stops with the ACC DG. He must consider his position.

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  21. All officers at ACC are commissioned by the President who also appoints the DG. If Edgar hs appointed the wrong people he knows what he’s supposed to do. Who fired Mutembo Nchito, who fired Guy Scott? Is it not the same person? Why has he failed now? He’s trying to fool us. Even kids on the street know that this Government isn’t clean. An attack on these institutions is an attack on the person who appoints the officers serving in them. This isn’t the right way to prepare for retirement bwana Edgar

  22. @ Barry ….. uli..Bo..lo………Yamuntu……. is this article about HH? And iwe ka KZ, How much do you get paid to blog SHEEEEET……

  23. Yiluma Francis, if u doubt the corruption fight and think it was tribal, go and ask wht tribe the late Lt-Gen Geojago Musengule, former commander of the Zambia Army was. He died a corruption convict while on bail pending appeal in the Supreme Court. His co-accused Amon Sibande had his conviction sustained by the Supreme Court whn he appeared alone after Musengule’s death. One of the leading cases now in land corruption cases is Tedworth Properties vs ACC. The ACC won yrs after Mwanawasa’s death.

  24. Whn it comes to investigating and prosecuting white collar crime, we’re still backward in Zambia. The ACC director generalship should be open to non-lawyers such as forensic accountants also. Making it a monopoly of lawyers with right to present cases in the High Court has hindered progress. The Serious Fraud Office which is the ACC’s equivalent in the UK is not monopolised by lawyers at the top.

  25. Opposition parties are funded by western and foreign groups with hidden agendas. They push opposition parties to target incumbent politicians with corruption allegations and falsities so as to undermine leadership in Africa. The aim is to have the populations lose confidence in their leaders so as to have proxy or puppet leaders in office who they can manipulate to give them easy access to Africa’s minerals. It’s a strategy that has failed in Asia, China and Middle East as leaders there have set up strong and locally designed political systems. Africa needs to wake up!!

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