Opposition Zambia Must Prosper has condemned the recent arrest of its interim party President Kelvin Fube Bwalya for alleged money laundering.
Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) on Wednesday arrested Mr. Bwalya, a lawyer and politician, for failing to report a suspicious transaction involving property worth over K6 million.
Mr. Fube has since been released on Police bond on account that he will never travel out of the country without notifying DEC.
In reaction, Zambia Must Prosper Secretary General Ruth Chikasa has accused the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND) of suffocating the opposition because the Hakainde Hichilema – led government is failing to meet citizens’ expectations.
Ms. Chikasa said her party has bemoaned the prevailing political space in Zambia.
Ms. Chikasa said the UPND government is intimidating opposition leaders in order to steal people’s attention from it’s failures.
“It is sad to see what is happening in the political arena in as far as the way opposition party leaders are being treated. The UPND government is intimidating opposition leaders because it has failed meet it’s promises to the people,” she said during a live programme on Diamond TV on Wednesday night.
Mrs Chikasa observed that after believing that Zambia would have a level playing field, where both the ruling and opposition parties would play their roles in the governance of the country, the opposite is happening.
“To maintain democracy in any nation, there is need to have a ruling party and the opposition to ensure checks and balances, without which, there is a risk of jeopardizing democracy,” she noted.
She said months ago while in the UPND Alliance, there were no issues as regards investigations or prosecutions of opposition leaders but it is surprising that such matters have arisen since ZMP opted to leave the Alliance.
“Some of our members in the UPND are on record as saying we have a dossier on KBF and he should not be speaking. What do they mean? That everyone must tow the line? Where is democracy in the country? This is not the democracy that we fought for. This is not the democracy we want for our country. The ruling party has a role to play just as the opposition also has a role to play”.
She called on Zambians to stand up against oppressive manoeuvres by the UPND government, warning that Zambia risks falling into a one party State.
Ms. Chikasa urged the opposition to work together in providing checks and balances and never allow the ruling party to do as they wish.
Mr. Bwalya has been a critic of the New Dawn Government after leaving the UPND Alliance to form Zambia Must Prosper.
KBF has also in the recent past dared to arrest him saying he has never committed any offence related to corruption.
The former senior PF official last month said he left the UPND Alliance because the New Dawn government of President Hakainde Hichilema has not respected the agreement that made him work with the alliance.
Mr. Bwalya alleged that President Hichilema has failed to unite the nation, to respect rule of law and to completely end cadrelism in markets and bus stations.
“We agreed to work together for a particular cause mine to protect and defend the constitution. The UPND whatever motivation they had that was their business. So that was the answer. I would not be appointed unless I had joined UPND. I am a practical man. Anybody who is going to claim he is not working under UPND today but he is in UPND government is lying through his teeth and you (Presenter) and I know that. Which policies are you going to be promulgating? Your own? No. You have to follow the policies of the party in power. Anybody who says he is a President of a political party but he is going to be in a government of another government, what are you doing? So for me our agreement was very simple. We need to protect the constitution,” he told Radio Phoenix.
“This was always the plan (forming a political party), this was always the plan. I never ever joined UPND. Let’s get that clear. I think there has been a lot said about how, why. Let me give some background to this. I stood against the PF on principle and that principle was I was not going to allow a third term to go against the constitution of this country. That I believed from the bottom of my heart that Edgar Chagwa Lungu was running for a third term. I didn’t not mind the Constitutional Court ruling, they had their views but that was my inner most gut feeling. That was a third term; we were not going to allow that. On principle that was my motivation for going against the Patriotic Front, a party which I had basically helped to grow, helped to expand and helped to live with,” Mr. Bwalya added.
He was arrested and charged with a crime that is on the books. He is a lawyer who knows the law of Zambia. He would be the first one to tell you that abetting crime is a crime. The bugger should face a judicial review board and lose his law license if he is convicted of this. The fact that he may be the leader of a political party is irrelevant. This is a new era, Those involved in grift are being held to account.
KBF is telling lies………
He was booted out of PF because he wanted to contest the PF leadership against lungu………
And what constitution is he saying he was trying to protect ?????
The same constitution he helped lungu and PF trample over in 2016 elections with all sorts of barbaric election
malpractices ????
As dome one said on another post…..KBF is a ruthless opportunist………..
He was booted out of PF because he wanted to contest the PF presidency against lungu………
And what constitution is he saying he was trying to protect ?????
The same constitution he helped lungu and PF trample over in 2016 elections with all sorts of barbaric election
malpractices ????
As some one said on another post…..KBF is a ruthless opportunist………..
And has a very murky recored……..
We warned KBF about going in bed with the evil wolves, upnd. See his life now. Many people in opposition will need to be exiled soon for their own safety under this autocratic government. We pf in uk will facilitate this with the UK govt where possible
Hehehehe…………
Ati with the UK government…….
Hehehehehe………
I hope you know that according to the law, the Zambian government can try you in absentia and convict you. The UK government can the arrest, imprison and make you serve the sentence rendered by Zambia in a UK jail, without you having to see a UK court for 1 minute. This is because Zambia and the UK are considered to have more or less the same judicial system. So be careful if you think that absconding to that country somehow facilitates protection from your many transgressions in Zambia. Your day is coming Kaizer Zulu. If you want to escape the long arm of the Zambia law, I suggest that you try to acquire asylum in a country where nabbing and bringing you to account would not be easy for Zambia
Sad that you find something so serious funny. There must be something totally wrong with you
KBF, be strong and wear a coat of thorns, sting like Donald Trump and sing like PEP president E. Tembo. There are lies in front of us, lies behind us, lies on our left and on our right. Look up and focus on exposing their lies, they should not get away with lies.
You Zambians amaze me, you keep saying we need to get rid of corruption and prosecute those who are guilty, yet when people are charged you have people condemning. WHY?
It was known that politicians were the most corrupt people in Zambia.
Corruption is a disease in Africa and it must be irradiated.
Charges have been made against this person and whether he is a politician he just has prove his innocence.
The reason is that corruption had become a way of life for all of them, and they are afraid that the law is coming after them. This is important because we need to establish an understanding that if you feel as if you can steal now, you are likely to prosecuted for it by another government. The reason why we are seeing this slew of arrests is the Siluyuni is no longer DPP, and she is not blocking law enforcement from doing its job. This is not the end. It is the beginning.
All opposition leaders have been arrested. What kind of government is that? Why dont they arrest their own?
Lungu, the biggest criminal of all, has not been arrested. Nevers Mumba has not been arrested. The reason why they are being arrested is that stealing had become a culture in Zambia. All of the people who have all of the wealth committed theft, and now we have a government of honest people calling all thieves to account. This is the beginning. All of these people are going to be arrested.
Kwena awe mukwai All the opposition leaders are corrupt and all ruling party members are angels!!!
This is certainly a one eyed view of our country. Had it been an opposition member at sino-cement he would have been arrested
Just the name ZAMBIA MUST PROSPER make me laugh. How can KBF make Zambia prosper, when he cannot even make his own children prosper. The fact that his own son is now languishing in prison in the USA after a robbery which ended up in a murder, just proves that the nest from where he is born is infected with selfishness and indiscipline.