Much of Zambia’s borrowing ends up in the financing of corrupt deals, says United Nations Independence Party (UNIP) president Tilyenji Kaunda.

But Kaunda says there should be no limit to borrowing as long as the money borrowed is used prudently and used to finance reasonable projects that could help the country to pay back its debts.

Speaking to News Diggers in an interview today, kaunda said President Edgar Lungu was not serious and firm in the fight against corruption because all of the people that surrounded him including investors were corrupt.

“I think whether the budget is big or small it makes no difference because they [government] do make these documents every year but things don’t always turn out as promised. They don’t seem to put their feet down on corruption. President Lungu has not been firm on corruption and he has been seen and heard defending the corruption of the Chinese who are Zambians popular investors… those 1,000, 000 Chinese officials who are making deals with government. Because of that, the way forward for this country will be very slow,” he observed.

“But as leaders, we are expected to take a leading role in the fight against corruption, that is why we in UNIP when we were in power we had a leadership code which outlined what a leader could and could not do. So as a leader you don’t have to get resources under your charge for personal use, these resources are for the people of Zambia and you can’t just start using them however you like just because you are President,” Kaunda said.

And Kaunda said there should be no limit to borrowing so long as the borrowed money is used responsibly.

“If we don’t borrow the kind of money which is required to sort out our problems then we are going to end up in bigger problems. The principle is that there should be no limit in borrowing but we must be careful that the money which is borrowed goes into production and is spent on reasonable things so that we can be able to pay back. I can give you an example of America, that country has got trillions of dollars in debt but they have got a special way of sorting out their debts so that there can be jobs, wealth creation and development in their country. But if people say don’t borrow so much then it means that we will not be able to get out of this economic crisis because we need to borrow in order to grow but we must not just waste what we are borrowing on financing corruption like what has been happening this country were leaders borrow money for their personal use,” Kaunda said.

Meanwhile, Kaunda said UNIP will continue to participate in the countries elections in years to come because it believes that the principle that everyone has got the right to live well in Zambia.

“For us we shall continue to participate in all elections to come because our main interest is not about getting into power. Unlike our friends in the MMD who have ended up joining other political parties due to not having a reason for being in opposition and because there main interest was just to be in power, for us we do not exist because of the physical aspect of power, we exist because we believe in the principle that everyone has got the right to live well in Zambia and that is basic reason why we will continue making sure that our people,” said Kaunda.