Risk of becoming Kleptocratic Republic of Zambia

WHILE President HH was in New York with a begging bowl – yes, please forget for now that he strolled the streets of the Big Apple with the confidence of Triple H, or that he spoke with the clarity and eloquence of Morgan Freeman - somewhere not too far from his private residence, police discovered about K66 million in cash.  

I’m sure you get the incongruity.

Of course it does not have to take a Sherlock Holmes to even remotely suspect that that much amount of cash stashed in bags in a house could point to a crime somewhere. Or does it?

Let me see; if I had K65 million in cash, where would I store it? Maybe in a bank, I’m not really sure. But it depends on how I earned, or should I say, got it.

The alleged owner of the cash, Faith Musonda, is a well-known church girl with a church face.  

But in the court of public opinion, she has already been judged – she’s as guilty as hell. But let us not jump the gun, because in the court of justice, she could still walk all the way to the bank smiling.

All I can say to Ms Musonda is: prove your faith, girl! 

There are some people, though, who fear this case has already been mishandled; I pray the police have an ace up their sleeve.

Well, I don’t want to assume a prosecutorial role or be judge and jury in this matter because the law presumes that Ms Musonda is innocent until the courts of law prove it otherwise. So, it’s not worthy punching the keyboard in a matter someone is innocent although I have heard about jurisdictions where someone is guilty until the courts of law prove them innocent. Dictatorship? Call it what you may.

Let me move away from Ms Musonda.

Would I be wrong to suggest that there is now genuine fear among citizens on the safety of their assets, especially liquid? Would I be wrong to say there could be individuals in our country who were well-connected to people in the previous administration who have stacks of money in their private homes?

Would I be stretching it too far to say people stole from right under our noses and hid their loot in plain view, buying the latest vehicles and building mansions? They were like toddlers with building blocks, putting up whatever their fertile minds could imagine and buying planes for fun.

And yet there are some who would still have us believe that the people of Zambia are just a bunch of angels, especially when one strays into a church on Sunday or watches the national sermon on October 18. Yes, October 18.

They still try to trivialise our demand for justice in the same tongue-in-cheek manner they did when they were in power - always demanding evidence whenever citizens screamed thief, thief! 

Jean Kapata, the former Minister of Lands, even has the audacity to suggest that fighting corruption is too expensive. Well, what could be more expensive than a US$270,000 fire truck bought at US$1 million, something someone in government then called a wheelbarrow?

But then, such sentiments may just be a decoy, trying to take the blood hounds off their trail.

Now that the carpet is slowly being pulled off, everything will come to the fore - hopefully.

Just how much dirt there is under the carpet one cannot tell, but if what we have witnessed so far has any telling, it could be a whole dump truck, loaded from 48 houses somewhere in Chalala.

And it will justify the anger that the electorate expressed on August 12.

Bally, now that your soft white gloves are off, the Zambian people want those who stole their money where they belong.

I know that our prisons are full to capacity, but surely there must be even just one room for just one more criminal or we could even designate one of the public places into a prison. Note: I am not saying correctional facility.

The Drug Enforcement Commission and Anti-Corruption Commission have gone into overdrive since the new dawn government took office, but they should not take us on a wild goose chase, unearthing big money scandals but bringing no criminal to account.

Under the previous administration, they were kept on a very short leash, such that no matter how much they barked, thieves never jumped.

But they should not get too excited, otherwise this may just turn out into another long drawn-out fight that won’t yield anything.

We should not turn this into another charade like we witnessed almost two decades ago under President Levy Mwanawasa where in the end we only recovered shoes of many colours.

This is a litmus test for the law enforcement agencies – they bangle this one, then we might as well call off the chase.

In the long term, we need to do what we the citizens have always demanded – independent law enforcement agencies that do not have to act on instigation from Plot One.

And the fight against corruption should be on all fronts.

HH, himself, should not be long-sighted and overlook whatever rot will be happening under his very nose – yes believe me it will happen because of bad precedent.

But those serving in the new dawn government must be reminded that the writing is still on the wall – Zambians hate deception and they still have voters’ cards.

You must remember that the youth who voted for you in the majority are restless beings; they don’t camp for long. Once the fire fizzles out, the party is over; they go looking for another camp fire – another hope.

Yes, you should lead us, but we shall not keep the blindfolds on this time. We are watching and seeing you, even behind the dark windows of your VXs. And that we will do before the Western governance watchdogs denigratingly downgrade us to Kleptocratic Republic of Zambia.

jackzimba777@gmail.com, jzimba@daily-mail.co.zm, WhatsApp line: 0979309545