PROBE HH BIG CHURCH ‘GIFTS’
…DEC must tell us source of the huge donations – CSOs
By Mast Reporter
THE Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) must extend investigations to President Hakainde Hichilema and other politicians on the source of the huge sums of money they are donating to churches as the country head of the general election, a consortium of 10 civil society organisations has demanded.
Chairperson Isaac Mwanza questioned the source of the huge funds Hichilema was donating in churches, for which he strongly condemned his predecessor late president Edgar Lungu while in the opposition.
“President Lungu, I remember very well, he donated K1 million to the church, which was condemned by the UPND [United Party for National Development]. They condemned those donations to say why are you making such donations, and where are you getting the funds from? Where is the money coming from?” Mwanza said in an interview.
He was responding to a question from The Mast why the consortium’s call for justice and accountability was selective in favour of the current government.
He said all political donations should raise questions among Zambians, regardless of which church and political party one came from and the recipient.
“Now, this should raise questions for members of the public. Why do these presidents keep donating such huge amounts of money when their salary is actually a bit lower? Where is the source of the funds?” Mwanza said.
He said the country was going through the most difficult period, and it was shocking that huge donations were being made to churches at the expense of key economic sectors.
“Our people don’t have resources. He [Hichilema] is giving away huge donations. But the huge amounts that are being donated to the public are of concern, not just for this President or the other presidents in the past who made these donations. I think we can group them,” Mwanza said.
He said government needed to be held accountable at all times, urging citizens never to lose guard.
Mwanza condemned the stifling of freedom of expression in the country by the government, saying it stifled the growth of the country’s democracy.
He said government had repeatedly abused the Public Order Act to stop the opposition from campaigning while the UPND had been going round the country campaigning freely.
“The abuse of the Public Order Act, the abuse of the cybersecurity law to steal people’s freedom is not correct. It is not correct, and it will never be correct,” Mwanza said.
He said the consortium would continue to oppose retrogressive laws that infringed on the rights of the people of Zambia.
He urged DEC to explain clearly to the nation why it had focused only on one vehicle involving Archbishop Alick Banda, head of the Archdiocese of Lusaka, out of the 22 that the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) disposed of.
“You remember very well that 22 vehicles were donated to various institutions and individuals, but the one that is coming out more prominently is for the archbishop. We expect that DEC must clearly explain to the public why that vehicle,” he said.
Mwanza said there was nothing wrong with donating to the Catholic Church, but that the donation was made.
“It’s a problem of how these donations have taken place. So, for us, we think that the archbishop still remains innocent. The only thing that he needs to do is simply to explain how his name got into this issue of the donation of the 22 vehicles,” he said.
It was also important for Hichilema and government officials to reveal the source of the huge sums of money they were donating to selected churches to win political support.
“Our cause as the consortium will extend to issues such as the presidency donating money, huge sums of money, at a time when the economy is crippled,” Mwanza said.
DEC has summoned Archbishop Banda to appear at its offices in Lusaka today for interrogations in connection with a second-hand motor vehicle given to him as a gift by someone who had bought it from ZRA.
