The debate on the need for President Hakainde Hichilema to publicly declare his assets as he fights corruption has continued with the State House declaring that the head of state has fulfilled the legal requirement of declaring assets and liabilities.
Last Friday, during a live interaction with the public on Hot FM radio at State House, President Hichilema disclosed that he still maintains interests in his businesses.
Some stakeholders in the promotion of good governance have been asking President Hichilema to declare his assets to prove his integrity in the fight against corruption.
In a recent article, good governance commentator Venus N Msyani pointed out that it is wrong that Zambians don’t know which companies, businesses, or assets belonged to President Hichilema.
But Presidential Spokesperson Anthony Bwalya on Tuesday issued a statement defending President Hichilema and emphasised that he has fulfilled the legal requirement of declaring assets and liabilities.
Mr. Bwalya said individuals or organisations are free to request relevant record-keeping institutions for them to go through the President’s assets and liabilities declarations made under the law.
He said the President will keep championing enhanced transparency and accountability as key pillars of bringing back integrity to public service.
“It is unfair political criticism for anyone to accuse President Hakainde Hichilema of falling back on this promise of transparency when the President had fulfilled every asset and liabilities declarations required of him at law. The Electoral Process Act, 2016, Part IV, section 30 (1) (c) is very clear and instructive, in that it obligates any individual wanting to contest the office of President, to declare their assets and liabilities in full, and that President Hichilema has fully complied with this legal requirement,” Mr. Bwalya stated.
“May I add, that, there is nothing precluding any individual or organization, from requesting to peruse through the President’s asset and liabilities declarations made under the law, from the relevant records-keeping institution. The President will keep championing enhanced transparency and accountability as key pillars of bringing back integrity to public service and enhancing how public servants and institutions serve the wider masses,” he said.
In March, 2022, the Constitutional Court dismissed a matter in which Patriots for Economic Progress leader Sean Tembo petitioned it over ECZ’s failure to publish assets declared by President Hakainde Hichilema when he filed nominations prior to the August 12 polls.
The court said it does not condone the targeting of one candidate, adding that Tembo should have targeted or cited all the 16 presidential candidates who took part in the 2021 presidential elections, including himself and not just President Hichilema.
In this matter, Tembo who cited ECZ and the Attorney General as respondents was seeking a declaration that the commission’s failure to publish the statutory declaration of assets and liabilities for the Head of State in the August elections contravened the constitution and was illegal.
He was further seeking a declaration that ECZ discloses the assets declared by President Hichilema when filing in his nomination papers.
But in a majority judgement read by Master of the Court, Mable Njekwa Mwaba, on behalf of Constitutional Court judges; Mungeni Mulenga, Palan Mulonda, Martin Musaluke and Mathews Chisunka, the court said the declaration which Tembo was seeking concerning President Hichilema could not be granted because the conduct did not contravene Article 52 (3) of the Constitution.
The court noted that the PEP leader just targeted one person instead of all the 16 presidential candidates, including himself.
Meanwhile, Constitutional Court judge Professor Margaret Munalula delivered a dissenting judgement, saying although she agreed with the majority judgement that ECZ did not breach the constitution, the commission and the Attorney General, who were aware of the different provisions of the law in relation to the Constitution and Electoral Process Act should have caused for the amendment of the law before the holding of the 2016 and 2021 general elections.
Meanwhile, the debate on the need for Mr. Hichilema to publicly declare his assets is not new.
In June 2016, former Katuba UPND Member of Parliament Jonas Shakafuswa observed that there was a possibility that the assets and liabilities declared by Mr. Hichilema to the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) in that year could have been undervalued.
Mr Hichilema declared a total of K73 million as value of his assets and liabilities prior to the 2016 Election, while during the 2015 presidential by-election he declared a total of K63.9 million.
Mr Shakafuswa said the UPND leader then was “a very rich man”.
Just forget it
You will not get anywhere.
Instead of just yapping day in day out nonsense…………
Why don’t you petition the assets of all the candidates , if you want to know ??????
Spaka…. petition what? Because you are so blinded by tribal affiliation you don’t even take time to understand what I am saying.
Go to ECZ…….
You act like you can’t read ?
And what are you going to do with ASSETS you idyots?
Nawakwi tried, and now she a hopeless widow.
Spaka… you are just a f.o.o.l Why should I go to ECZ? What am I supposed to do there.
Mr do as I say but not as I do.
Our President has never been transparent about anything of his life. As for Anthony Bwalya, what he should have doen was to avail us a copy of that declaration to prove his point. Now that he didn’t do it he’s just another howling hyena. As for the ConCourt judgement, the verdict by Justice Munalula is the true interpretation of the Law, the rest is among those judgements which can cause us to be in contempt if with truly and openly give our opinion. The onus is on him. He can get away with anything for as long as he occupies that office, the problem will be after he leaves. Political circles aren’t short of lunatics, we might just elect one and he might make issues about that. These same courts will change their judgements, didn’t they declare ECL as eligible?
The beauty of Munalula judgement is that it was pronounced before Hakainde Hichilema became president and it came at a time when Sean Tembo was seen to have singled out one person.
This has given footing for UPND to go round in circles with refusal to provide a straight toward answer on presidential assets and liabilities.
The law is on the President’s side while morality is shoved aside.
But , you should learn from ST laziness if you are intrested in that information…….
Go and Petition assets of all presidential candidates of 2021…………..
If you encounter obstacles in obtaining this information, come back to Lusaka Times and tell the people………..
You want every information to be available without any effort ????
It has nothing to do with Tembo’s lawsuit. But the law to declare A&L seams to have targeted one person.
In 2016, a UPND defector Shakafuswa questioned Hichilema’s allegedly falsified A&L that were valued at K73 million. He likewise never accused other eight presidential aspirants.
Hichilema’s riches have puzzled most people.
Mind you, @Spaka, he’s proudly the wealthiest dude Zambia ever produced.
just start working hard and become rich but dont go and steal or acquire resources corruptlly otherwise you will abandon evev your vehicles and houses when the investigative wings bounce an you and be arrested. HH is just unique! He is hard working at personal, national and international levels. Ask ECL who hired several agents and waged a war to investigate the richness of HH for seven years. all they found was just his goodnes on business. and in the end started lscandalizing his name by falsifully calling him Satanist. elsewhere lazy people like kaizer call progressive people as satanists
A debate by a clique of thieves has no substance especially that chap called KZ he got wealth out of crooked ways…together with his BOSS from 2 million to 23million in 18 months X 7 years and some months
We are feeding and employing your f00Iish mother and father and you are here busy saying fyo fyo
He has to lead by example and declare his assets. He must as a leader lead the way so that the ministers can follow. A law also must be introduced for anyone vying for the country’s presidency must come up with a list of his assets on nomination day in addition to the other requirements.
KZ, bweshako umutima boyi. Life is not all that bad.
Zambians are like small crying children. How can one expect HH to declare his assets when it is no longer a secret that he gained his wealth through thefts and privatization.
It is like asking a shoplifter to declare in public as to how much he had stollen.