YOU ARE NEXT
‘UPND leaders mocking Lusambo will also be jailed soon’
By Tony Nkhoma
UNITED Party for National Development (UPND) leaders and senior government officials should not celebrate the politically influenced jailing of Bowman Lusambo because they will soon find themselves in the same predicament, Binwell Mpundu has said.
Mpundu, the independent member of Parliament for Nkana in Kitwe and leader of the Movement for Good Government popularly known s Ichabaice, said the UPND leaders were enacting laws targeted at political opponents.
He said failure by the leaders in the UPND administration to understand the implication of the laws they were maliciously enacting and using against its opponents would haunt them in 2026 after leaving government.
“We the Movement for Good Governance, when we get a chance to lead this country, we are going to scrap off a law called the Proceeds of Crime law[Act],” Mpundu said.
He said it was only leaders from the opposition who were being jailed without proof of the crimes they committed.
“The Proceeds of Crime law is a useless law. Now there are times in Zambia and it has become very evident that certain laws are enacted not for the common good of the Zambian people but certain laws are enacted because the enactors of those laws and the movers of such propositions are targeting individuals,” Mpundu said.
He said championing legal provisions targeting individuals only perceived to have divergent views would soon backfire on UPND leaders.
Mpundu said lumping cases on people without any proof of the crime they were alleged to have committed was inhuman.
“The crime must be stated. Crimes must be substantiated. This Proceeds of Crime law has been widely abused. The UPND are using the law on anyone they hate,” he said.
Mpundu said the proceeds of crime was unfair to individuals who had worked hard for their own property only to be branded criminals by their political rivals in government.
He said the law shifted the responsibility from the accuser to the accused.
“It looks like prostitution. Normally, it’s a woman who is treated as a prostitute. The man goes free. The Proceeds of Crime, if we are not careful is going to be abused and has been abused for a long time, especially to fix political opponents,” Mpundu said.
He reminded those in the UPND not to be clapping because soon the law would catch up with them and they would find themselves in prison for crimes they had not committed.
He said the UPND had applied the proceeds of crime law wrongly targeting the former first lady Esther Lungu.
“What makes the law very useless is because this is a law that shifts the responsibility from the accusers to the accused .This is a law that holds somebody guilty upon being accused. This law contravenes our Constitution,” Mpundu said.
“Time settles all matters, and the Proceeds of Crime cases will haunt the UPND. Using the Proceeds of Crime law to oppress others, particularly those of the opposition and those with divergent views. My assertion is that the proceeds of crime law is a useless law,” Mpundu said.
