National Restoration Party (NAREP) National Youth Chairperson Medson Mugala has appealed to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to probe Chingola Member of Parliament Mathew Nkhuwa for allegedly using of his ministerial powers for his personal gain, accusing the latter of building a police post at his sister’s shop.

But Nkhuwa’s refuted the allegations saying it is merely a coincidence that his sister’s shop is next to the site picked for the police station.

Mugala has charged that Nkhuwa, who is also Works and Supply Minister, lobbied for donations for the construction of a police post in Riverside area but later started to construct the police post next to his sister’s shop as a way of helping her secure her business at the expense of the majority electorates.

“The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) must arrest Chingola Member of Parliament Matthew Nkhuwa for political corruption. Mr Nkhuwa had lobbied for donation for construction of a police post in Riverside but he has bulldozed everyone so that the police post is built next to the shop of his biological sister a Mrs Nyoni.
There was a breaking in this shop at once and now Mr Nkhuwa wants to turn police officers into his personal security guards instead of employing security guards to man the shop,” Mugala said.

“To show that he does not regard anyone, he has even started building without a building permit from the Council which equally is against the site which he has bulldozed. What type of a leader is he who wants to abrogate the Law with impunity, few months after being elected? ACC does not even need to investigate this matter because Mr Nkhuwa has already started building without a permit and the building is on the plot of his late sister Mrs Nyoni.”

Mugala advised the ruling PF to not only serve their own personal interests but also those of the electorates.

“According to Google, political corruption is the use of powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. An illegal act by an officeholder constitutes political corruption only if the act is directly related to their official duties, is done under color of law or involves trading in influence. Hence Mr Nkhuwa has traded in influencing the decision to build a police post at his sister’s shop or call it the use of powers by Minister of Works Matthew Nkhuwa for illegitimate private gain,” Mugala said.

“In more cases than one, the electorate’s plea is shelved in preference to conditions at their expense. He has refused to heed advice from the community and council directive to set up a police post at an identified central place that would serve the interest of a larger population as opposed to the area he has chosen which is only serving his personal interests,” he said.

He revealed that Chingola ward has had a lifetime drought of a police station in Riverside.

“After 2016 general elections, many of us who aspired for elective office had ambitions of putting up a police station and a clinic at Council approved central places to conveniently service a population of over 10,000 of Riverside, Chingola central and Soweto. In a bid to fulfill his campaign promises, Mr Nkhuwa has forced his way by constructing a tiny police post at a site close to his sister’s shop, Mrs Nyoni, which he built and stocked for her, may her soul rest in peace,” said Mugala.

“This is a site that has no approvals from council and has no council seating minutes.
This is an abrogation of local laws yet the law maker has chosen to go ahead with his construction while hiding in the guise of claiming it’s a community initiative by asking a few loyalists to make public contributions towards the construction, yet it’s intended to protect his property and home which is so close to the site.
As a concerned resident of Chingola, I strongly ask Mr Nkhuwa to show leadership by adhering to the people’s demands by putting up a police post that will centrally serve both the rich and poor.”

He added that the area needed a police post that would be big enough to carter for the large catchment and catchment area and not a structure that would only serve individual interests and gallery of ‘Sontapo’.

But in an interview, Mugala said it was the people living around the shopping centre in question who had approached him requesting for the police post to be built around that area.

Nkhuwa said after the council approved the project, people contributed construction materials ranging from cement, roofing sheets, and building blocks, among others for the works to commence.

The Minister said it was a coincidence that his sister owned a shop at the shopping centre in question.

“It’s not a shop as they have put it, it is a shopping centre. The community around that area approached me and requested me to assist them with a police post, I spoke to the council and they gave us the place and approved the project. Yes my sister has a shop there but it was just a coincidence that she has a shop there. So after the project was approved, the same community started contributing monies for the building to be put up, others brought blocks, others cement, others roofing sheets, and I personally contributed building stones and cement. There are more than 15 shops in the same area. There is no money that was raised for this project, not even a single coin. This building has been put up through contributions of building materials,” said Nkhuwa.