. Tayali

By RABECCA CHIPANTA and STEPHANIE KUNDA –
ECONOMIC and Equity Party (EEP) president Chilufya Tayali says Roan Member of Parliament Chishimba Kambwili is being hypocritical in his criticism of the Government over the cost of fire tenders and construction of the Lusaka-Ndola dual carriageway.
Mr Tayali said people were being misled by unscrupulous politicians simply because they had changed their political affiliation and failed to fulfil their promises while in power.
He accused former Information minister Kambwili of trying to ride on people’s naivety and hardships to get back into power.
Mr Tayali said it was hypocritical for Mr Kambwili to call for the arrest of all the people in Government when he was part and parcel of the same Government for more than five years.
“Most of the transactions that Kambwili is hypocritically criticising were initiated and approved when he was in Government. If Kambwili was a principled man, as he wants to pretend to be, he would have resigned and told the nation about the corruption going on in the Patriotic Front. He did not have to wait until he was fired and expelled to stand with the poor Zambians,” Mr Tayali said.
He said the EEP was not defending corruption or stopping anyone from speaking out against corruption but was warning citizens against immoral politicians who wanted to manipulate people for them to get back into power.
He added that as an opposition party, EEP would work to provide checks and balances to the Government but in a reasonable and objective manner.
Mr Tayali urged citizens to put aside emotions and be reasonable and objective in looking at the issue of the fire tenders and the dual carriage way.
The EEP leader said he was privy to some information relating to the fire tenders whilst working at the Zambian Voice and reported the matter to the Anti-Corruption Commission who later investigated and concluded that the $42million tender was correctly awarded to Grandview.
Mr Tayali justified the prices of fire-fighting trucks which he said were reasonable according to the country’s needs.
He said it was unfair, unreasonable and unpatriotic to demonise those involved in processing the tender.
On the dual carriage way, Mr Tayali said it was unreasonable for Mr Kambwili and others to be speculative on the cost of the road and what it was coming with.
Mr Tayali said the road was highly progressive looking at the high number of deaths that had occurred on the same road.
He further said the road was one of the most economic value in the country and one of the best deals as it was being constructed by China using their money, which would be paid back through tolling over a period of 17 years.
He added that Mr Kambwili was frustrated and failing to handle his dismissal in a manner that a mature politician ought to, thereby deliberately misleading the public and taking advantage of their naivety.
Meanwhile, the church has called on people trying to dent the image of the nation with rumours to stop doing so because they are turning the country into a rumour State.
Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) executive director Pukuta Mwanza said the accusations were just a tendency of accusing the ruling party on developmental projects.
Reverend Mwanza said efforts needed to be made in seeking clarifications before people made accusations, because relevant authorities were there to give facts.
Rev Mwanza said the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) was there for the public to give evidence on anything.
He was not in support or in favour of anyone, but he called for evidence from the people that were spreading stories that would dent the image of the country because they were going viral.
Rev Mwanza said the procurement of the fire tenders was not the only accusation being made, but the construction of the dual carriageway was also being called corrupt.
He said the country had been turned into a rumour State where people pointed fingers before reflecting and getting actual facts from relevant authorities.
Rev Mwanza added that those who were comparing Zambia with other countries  were going off on a tangent because countries had different geographical characteristics that made it illogical to make certain comparisons.