Bishop John Mambo says he would rally alongside a ‘naked’ Chishimba Kambwili, with a Bible in his hands, to protest any decision by government to dismiss Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) Director-General Mary Tshuma.

And Bishop Mambo says Finance Minister Margaret Mwanakatwe’s latest statement that the Lusaka Ndola dual carriageway’s purported cost US $1.2 billion is not a true figure is confirmation that government had been inflating figures for personal benefit.

Bishop Mambo, who is the CiSCA board chairperson, said he would rally behind a ‘naked’ Chishimba Kambwili, with a Bible in-hand, in solidarity with Tshuma.

“This lack of seriousness is what has caused Kambwili to resolve to move naked if they fire the FIC Director. And when that happens, I will follow Kambwili, I will be behind him, not naked, but carrying a Bible and demonstrating as well. I will follow him whilst shouting, ‘God help us!!’ Because we don’t need this kind of leadership. There are a number of things that are not helping our country. It is time we reclaim our country because we are not leaving anything for our children and our grandchildren. We are a Christian nation, but we don’t govern our country based on love for one another, which is a Christian principle. We are heading into a dangerous zone. I am from Nyimba [District of Eastern Province] and to see the way people are leaving in villages, you literally get [heart-] broken. And our chiefs are doing a much better job than these ministers in this government! They are literally helping the poor to proper,” Bishop Mambo told News Diggers! in an interview, Monday.

And Bishop Mambo said Mwanakatwe’s latest statement that the Lusaka Ndola dual carriageway’s purported cost US $1.2 billion is not a true figure is confirmation that government had been inflating figures for personal benefit.

He charged that the PF government are using mafias to deal their fellow mafias and award contracts to themselves.

“Leadership in Zambia has been stealing through these contracts. We would have achieved more out of the good will of the international community and the money that we borrow but you end having Lusaka being built and you talk about the country being rich. It’s only individuals. So, where we are heading to, sooner or later, we will have the ‘Gupta-gate’ through state capture; [it] has really invaded the system of the day. I mean, if you look at all what is happening in Lusaka, someone coming in here today can say, ‘there is no poverty in Zambia,’ we are doing well economically, unemployment is low and so on and so forth. But all these properties are charged to individuals and those individuals are those in power. So, the Finance Minister’s revelation that the Lusaka-Ndola dual carriageway does not cost US $1.2 billion is confirmation that this government is inflating figures so that they get some chunks of money from these contracts; this is why they are so upset with the Financial Intelligence Centre Report. But now, you cannot have a system that deals with issues of money laundering and finances in the country that will not reveal,” said Bishop Mambo.

“If this was you and me found wanting, even if it was a K100, it would have been a headline in one of the daily newspapers that, ‘Bishop Mambo misappropriated this kind of money.’ Let the conscience of these people in power condemn them! They should, for once, feel ashamed of themselves for the conduct they have given to Zambians. The fire tenders were done dubiously, the acquisition of the ambulances were done dubiously and so was the awarding of the Lusaka-Ndola dual carriageway. Figures were inflated and what the PF are doing is that they are sending mafias to deal with other mafias and trick you. You can’t really understand what is going on but you can see that there are dubious activities going on! And this is totally dangerous for the citizens of this country; it is very dangerous for the future of this country. That is why they want to shut down the British High Commissioner who is talking about poor governance by the government of the day; it is very sad what they are doing. That is ‘jungle leadership’ by President Edgar Lungu. You don’t shut someone that is trying to help you. Someone is showing you the way that, ‘what you are doing is not right’ and you are trying to shut him down. It’s very sad. In fact we are insulting ourselves because we are a former British colony. So, let this government take the FIC Report seriously.”