Friday, March 29, 2024

The HH administration should call for amnesty on the past corruption

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By Venus N Msyani

Any commission or institution that the new dawn administration may come up with to recover stolen properties will have to start from the 1990s privatization process and definitely the name Hakainde Hichilema will be mentioned in the process.

Starting from the middle, when the PF government came into power or choosing not to mention the name of the president in the process of recovering stolen properties will lead to questions.

It will mean that president Hakainde Hichilema administration has adopted the previous Patriotic Front (PF) administration plan of using the fight against corruption to fix opponents.

President Hakainde has promised that the corruption fights will not be vindictive or selective. It will be hard to prove that if the president chooses to focus on the previous administration.

“We will not use a political hand, no vengeance, no retribution but the right institutions will do it professionally,” he told Zambians living in North America during his trip to the UN.

“No effort will be spared to fight the vice and recover everything stolen from the people of Zambia” the president added.

Reflecting on that, Zambians are still living in the abyss on the 1990s privatization scandals. Don’t’ they deserve to get back what was stolen during the privatization process as well?

If they do, any recovery process that excuses the 1990s privatization process scandals is unacceptable. A fair recovery must include privatization process.

Zambians refused to allow the previous administration to use the fight against corruption to fix opponents and must do the same with the new HH administration.

Amnesty is the only fair approach to deal with the past corruption in the country. It will also facilitate unity in the fight against current and future corruption.

On the other hand, the recovery process may end up costing the country more than what is to be recovered. It may also end up costing the HH administration focus and time to fulfill promises.

In reality, the presidential term in Zambia can be divided into three categories: Honeymoon, action, and campaign. The first year of HH administration can be counted as a honeymoon and the last year as a campaign year. So, president Hakainde has only three years to fulfil his promises.

Amnesty on past corruption could help him save time.

32 COMMENTS

  1. No way! HH has expressly said if anyone has evidence against him they should go to court.. This is the same thinking as that there shouldn’t be currency change to allay the ZMW hard cash money launderers has stashed in some hiding places. MMD changed currency with the pretext of removing KK’s head and PF changed currency with the pretext of removing the last 3 zeros. So UPND should follow the precident.

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  2. There should be no amnesty. This a two edged sword… one side people will not learn if let off; two those who have been accused but are actually innocent would like their names cleared. As for privatization issue all the evidence will have been laundered. You won’t find any records. .so let’s not waste time on a useless project.

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  3. Ba Venus N. Msyani,
    Why leave out the 70s and 80s? Are you saying there was no corruption then?
    Or maybe just legalize corruption in Zambia because there are just too many cases to look into?

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  4. I just threw up …who is this Venus N Msyani? On his twitter page he calls himself a concerned citizen…really laughable

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  5. Well, three bitter governments against HH could not arrest him. Now that he is in government he should arrest himself? Some people are just sick to say the least.

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  6. Who are you? What did your father steal,your relatives & yourself,what did you steal for you to recommend a blanket amnesty? What did you benefit from Lungu & his PF group of thieves, what did they give you?

    Your suggestion that the probe should be fr the 90’s is nonsensical & your mendacity shows…

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  7. Venus N Msyani is sponsored by the lungu gang…….

    The majority of Zambians , who voted out PF , want answers from the corruption allegations of the past 10 years……..

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  8. There is no amnesty when indeginous zambians are caught stealing chickens so why must they be amnesty when non indeginous are caught stealing ??
    Is this article sponsored by thieves?

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  9. Ba Venus N Msyani don’t embarrass yourself.
    You sound intelligent until you reveal that you honestly think inquiring about Privatisation would lead to revelations incriminating HH.
    You honestly think PF, a regime that was looking for any excuse to arrest HH, the Nchito brothers, Fred Mmembe and anyone Lungu considered an enemy could have restrained themselves from investigating and arresting HH if he committed any offence during Privatisation
    ???

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  10. With a name like Penus, did anyone expect anything sensible from him? If indeed he is talking from his head, it is not the one that is visible in public.

    This man just needs to go back inside, so we close the zip.

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  11. Am still puzzled, Lusaka Times do you even ask tough questions before someone posts an opinion article on here? Honestly, this opinion would not pass editorial critic, not even a second.

  12. Ba Venus N Msyani
    People marched to State House demanding a Commission of Inquiry on Privatisation. HH, himself, asked to be arrested if people really believed he committed any offence during Privatisation.
    Notwithstanding the above HH was not so much as even be interviewed by Police.

    And you , Venus N Msyani, an intelligent, right thinking, well informed duly exposed and educated adult think PF’s hearts were melted and they decided to hold themselves back from arresting HH because feeling sorry for him, they forgave him and decided not to arrest him!!!?????!!

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  13. Jigga Kayama Simangulungwa (formerly Corruption scandals: 48 Houses Social Security Cash Luxury Presidential Jet Ambulances Fire Trucks Mukula Trees Ndola-Lusaka Rd Malawi Maizegate Fuelgate Swaziland landgate Zesco Loans Honeybee) Jigga Kayama Simangulungwa (formerly Corruption scandals: 48 Houses Social Security Cash Luxury Presidential Jet Ambulances Fire Trucks Mukula Trees Ndola-Lusaka Rd Malawi Maizegate Fuelgate Swaziland landgate Zesco Loans Honeybee)

    No need to insult the writer… he has expressed an opinion and you may not agree with it… so offer an alternative solution.
    I don’t agree with most of what he has written but he has a point about the potential for not recovering anything. The MMD government of FTJ were stinking corrupt but the country never recovered anything from that corrupt regime.
    I think what we need is a commission of enquiry to hold public sessions that is focused on recovery… promising culprits to voluntarily come forward and return the loot in exchange of freedom or less jail time. Going through the court system will take forever and not recover anything.

  14. …….chishi tachili chaba nyoko. we want all culprits answerable starting with you……mr or mrs or ms….hard to tell from the name

  15. Whoever wrote this crap is not normal or is a beneficially of what he is defending. No sane person can support what PF did to our country..

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  16. The period from 1990-2008 was covered by Levy Patrick Mwanawasa anti-corruption crusade.
    Army Generals,Ministers,Permanent secs,ex ZCCM officials etc were taken to court and convicted.
    It was Rupiah Banda who messed up Levy’s anti-corruption efforts by letting FTJ off the hook.Then RB also got involved in Corruption and oil deals .
    When Sata won in 2011,he went for RB ‘s corruption involvement but Edgar Lungu came and messed things up.
    So the corruption probe should start from 2008 to date.

  17. Mr hh be careful with these criminals. Can u see hw they hv gained guts bcoz of yo too much talk about pf stealing bt little action.mind u these guys will regroup as 2026 draws near. U will feel their heat. In the meantime u ar busy reminding us hw disgusting pf stealing is. Harsh action is needed like ysterday bru..we kno they stole every one saw hw they display their loot. Stop reminding us pliz. We want action

  18. HOW MANY TIMES DID HH DARE KAMPONGO TO ARREST HIM IF HE HAD EVIDENCE ON THE ALLEGED PRIVATIZATION OF ZCCM? EVEN EDITH LEGAANA WHO WAS FINANCE MINI-STAR THEN COULD NOT AVAIL ANY EVIDENCE. SO WHY COME UP WITH SUCH EXECRABLE INSINUATIONS AGAINST HH?

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