IKELENGI UPND member of parliament Elijah Muchima says some PF members are thieves, that is why they continue donating large sums of money when the country’s economy is crippling.

In an interview, Monday, Muchima accused the PF government of diverting money meant for capital projects to their campaigns disguised as donations.

“First and foremost, we have to analyze how the economy is doing, the economy is doing very badly, we are defaulters. One will have to ask the question, if there is no money in the economy and the government which is in charge of running the treasury has so much money, where is that money coming from? That is total corruption! Either that money is coming from people who want favours from the government or they are diverting money from the government. They are already campaigning heavily in rural areas. There is money they are splashing, they are making people line up and give them money. They are buying brand new vehicles, they are giving chiefs. All of that is to bribe people whilst the opposition is not allowed to fully campaign. One question we should ask is where is the money coming from? They should explain the source of money,” he said.

“The debt obligation is the priority of the country. You see it is mediocrity to make the economy so porous and so poor, we can’t meet debt obligations but PF is playing with so much money. What we can conclude is that they are thieves, where are they getting the money? Some of them were very poor people, extremely poor but today because they are in PF they are swimming in a lot of money. Our suspicion is they are diverting resources or they are soliciting money from bribes from some people, those who want favours from the government. As you know the contracts are never given to anyone anywhere. They are being given to people who can supply them with the money. That is where the corruption issue is coming from. People in the whole country are seeing what is happening, you can’t feed your children at home, but you are busy holding parties and entertaining people everywhere, then you become unreasonable. So PF is very unreasonable.”

Muchima said the statement released by PF national mobilisation chairperson Richard Musukwa banning cash donations by party members was a sham because PF members were scheming other ways to donate money.

“In constituencies like Ikelegi, they are busy campaigning every day spending money everyday. They should tell us where they are getting the money so that we pay the debt obligations. They are not clever enough, they should have put money in the economy, let the economy look bright then they can spend. But they have made the economy run dry. That is what they meant when they said more money in their pockets. They have already been dishing out even if they stop, they will find other means and ways. They have been exposed that is why it is a shame and a sham. Everyone is left wondering, that is why they want to scheme how they will be giving money, they have already been exposed,” said Muchima.