PF SECRETARY general Davies Mwila says he cannot reveal the three people that paid K4.7 million on behalf of former ministers who illegally stayed in office.

On Monday, governance activist Brebner Changala accused the PF of thinking that Zambians were idiots, who could be fooled by “money laundering tricks” like the one in which the ruling party claimed a named company and some individuals had paid back illegal salaries on behalf of ex-ministers.

Changala and other stakeholders challenged Mwila to name the ‘good samaritans’.

But speaking when he featured on Hot FM’s Red Hot Breakfast Show, Tuesday, Mwila, said that he could not yet disclose the identities of the individuals who had paid a whopping K4.7 million on behalf of the defaulting former ministers.

When pressed to reveal the names of the well-wishers who had paid the funds, Mwila declined, saying that he needed to seek permission from them before going public.

“The well-wishers are our members; there are about three, who offered to pay for the former ministers, specifically PF members. They are individuals who own companies. It is confidential as at now. We have just been given the deposit slips and that I think anyone who wants to enquire can go to the Ministry of Finance, unless we ask the same individuals if it will be right to mention their names in public. It is a public issue, but I have to get permission from them. Once we get permission from them, once they authorise us, we will inform the public. We contribute as members of the party. They are well-wishers, they are loyal members of the party and they thought it fit that we pay for the former ministers and we can’t say no, and some of us have already paid, we will start asking for a refund,” said Mwila.

In his argument, Changala had said that the PF were taking Zambians for a bunch of idiots who could easily be fooled at any time.

“I rise to question the conduct of our ruling Patriotic Front as a party in government. There is a constitutional ruling that ministers, who overstayed in their ministerial portfolios after the dissolution of Parliament, should pay back what they drew as salaries and allowances. It is surprisingly interesting that some of the accused ministers and former ministers voluntarily went to the bank and liquidated their indebtedness in honour. And on the other side, there is a group of serving ministers and their cronies, who have gone to court to seek the variation of this refund so that they are given ample time. Now, knowing the ruling party has come to convince itself that the people of Zambia are nothing, but idiots, the secretary general of the PF has come out publicly without coercion, to clearly state that the party, though a donor, a businessman, have liquidated the debt of former ministers and all those who stayed in office prior to the 2016 general election,” said Changala.