National Restoration Party leader Elias Chipimo says senior government officials are stashing huge sums of money in their homes which they are using to sponsor violence and buy votes.

And Chipimo says he does not want the constitution amendment bill to pass because PF has the capacity to sneak in some clauses which can only benefit them.

Speaking when he featured on Hot FM’s “Hot Seat”, Thursday, Chipimo, who is also opposition alliance deputy chairperson, said stolen money was being used to sponsor violence.

“Our approach is let’s roll up our sleeves and try and see how we can change the political formula in this country so that people should not be fearful. It’s not about getting to power at any cost. Right now if you were to really go in and do a lifestyle audit and these are the things that you should be asking for on your platforms, demand for a lifestyle audit of your leaders who are in power today. Find our “where were they before? How is it that they suddenly have mansions? How is it that they are keeping huge sums of money in their homes? Why? because they are afraid to take it to the bank. If they take it to the bank, it will raise a concern and an alarm. So they stash it in their homes and they spend it in promoting violence and buying off vulnerable electorates,” Chipimo said.

And Chipimo said he did not want the constitution amendment bill to pass because PF had the capacity to sneak in some clauses which can only benefit them.

“If you look at this Bill that the PF is trying to put through, you have got representatives from various ministries, you have got representatives from various government agencies, they cannot transparently…you can’t expect that there is going to be a free and transparent debate around what should or shouldn’t be in the constitution. And then look at it realistically. If you look at this Bill, it gives 10′; days for deliberation to cover all of these statutes. You are looking at the constitution, you are looking at the Political Parties Bill, the electoral process Act, etc. This is why we are opposing this thing. You are beginning to see that the PF doesn’t mean well for this country, they mean well for themselves as individuals,” Chipimo said.

“I think that not enough people understand some of the manoeuvrings that the PF are trying to undertake. We don’t want it to go through but it is not just because we want to create problems, it’s because we are setting a very dangerous path for how the PF can manipulate the constitutional making process and put in things which we won’t be able to stop them from, if we don’t stop them now.”

Asked if the arrest of Obvious Mwaliteta for allegedly being possession of offensive weapons would weaken the alliance’s case to the ICC, Chipimo said their case was still intact.

“No, it doesn’t. But you see, one of the things that is very interesting is that we seem to have a government that is very quick to identify attempts at violence by anybody other than their own cadres. Everybody knows, images are there, footages are there, witnesses are there when it comes to the violence that has been perpetrated by those who are sponsored by elements within the patriotic front. But what action is taken against them/ nothing at all. It has reached a point where public officials are threatened if they take action against these cadres and this has been going on for a long time,” Chipimo said.

He said Zambia was broke because of the way it was managing its resources.

“We have been in a steady crisis for many years but because you have been used to a crisis [such as] shortages, delays, lack of investment in certain areas, poor attendants at school, death, malnutrition, no medicine in hospitals, having to walk long distances, having to deal with only two meals and maybe sometimes even one meal a day, hearing about abortions, learning about blessers who are the ones that are taking care of young girls in college and tertiary education, young people being violated at the age of seven. These are things that have been happening and are so common now but people are waiting for something big that will happen. We are broke [as a country] when we don’t need to be. We are broke only because of the way we are managing the resources [and] there is always a way out,” he said.

“So the resources we have, the solutions are there but what we have is too much mediocrity, too much greed, too much corruption and too much neglect. These are the four pillars that are creating the crisis that we have been experiencing for many years as a nation.”

Meanwhile, Chipimo said reporting President Edgar Lungu to the International Criminal Court was an ongoing process and that the nation would be informed about the progress at the right time

“This process is still ongoing. It’s not something that happens overnight. Paper work has to be prepared, we have got to be sure that it’s aligned all the relevant information, experts are consulted. It’s a process that’s underway and in due course, the nation will receive a proper notification. Yes the evidence is there and I believe that the investigative process will begin. There are just a few things that have to be in place and those are the things that we are currently working on. The important thing is that the officials who are at the centre of perpetrating the crimes are known and they themselves know, and they themselves are mentally preparing themselves for that time when it will come. There is too much at stake right now and we have individuals who are hell-bent on holding on to power at any cost and they will do anything. The incidences that you have seen of violence and attempts of manipulating outcomes especially in elections, these aren’t random things, these are very carefully coordinated, and very carefully planned things. And all of this information will be present and we will wait to see what the verdict of the International Criminal Court will be,” said Chipimo.