Home Affairs Minister Stephen Kampyongo says he is available for a lifestyle audit as a government official so that the public can know even where his children go for school.

And Kampyongo says those wishing to rejoin PF after insulting the Head of State like Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba did, must know that they may not be as lucky when they seek readmission.

Meanwhile Kampyongo says the freedom that the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) enjoys in releasing its reports is an indication that the PF government is ready to be held accountable by the investigative wings.

Speaking when he featured on Hot FM’s Frank on Hot programme, Tuesday, the Home Affairs Minister who is also PF member of parliament for Shiwang’andu Constituency said he was an open public servant, ready to undergo a lifestyle audit.

Kampyongo has in the past been accused of receiving gratification, through his brother, from the government’s procurement of fire trucks when he was Local Government Minister, an allegation which he denies.

He was speaking in line with the recently released Financial Intelligence Centre’s trends report, which revealed that in 2018, government lost K6.1 billion through corruption, bribery and tax evasion among other vices.

“What this (report) shows you is that the Patriotic Front government is ready to be held accountable by various institutions, which never used to be the case. The issues that FIC deals with are not only of public nature, you know we have become an investment centre and we have to make sure that the finances that are coming in investment areas are genuine finances and in the fighting of terrorism also we have to be alert because money laundered can be hidden and thrown into activities that can put the country at risk,” he said.

“As for the public outcries that we in government must be audited, we are free. We are public servants, if you want to see where our children go to school, we are open. You can come and investigate us.”

And Kampyongo warned those insulting the President that they may not be as lucky as GBM and several other people who had been readmitted to PF after showering insults on President Lungu.

“First of all, I want to welcome GBM back to PF, just like I can welcome any other member. I have welcomed others before like my brother Miles Sampa and many others that have rejoined the party. These had gone to tour and see, they are the best people to tell you the values that are in the Patriotic Front and we welcome them. But I want to say this that our President must be understood for what he is, he’s a person who has been showered with insults but you never heard him answer back. Those are very rare virtues in human beings and we are grateful to have a leader like him at this juncture. But this is not to say those who want to continue insulting him might have the same [fate] because it won’t be ‘all sizes fit all’. Those who want to think they can continue insulting the President now and think they can come and be welcomed back in the same way, they might just find a different day,” Kampyongo warned.

“What we are saying is that we want discipline, we are welcoming members because this is what President Sata would have loved to see. He embraced people that could even slap him. He dined with those who insulted him and he said ‘you come back we work together’ and that’s the spirit we want to see. There must not be any permanent enemies, we are one Zambia, one people and that’s how it should be.”

Meanwhile, Kampyongo said the recently announced austerity measures would not affect service delivery.

“Yes indeed austerity measures are here but we are not going to stop living because of austerity measures. We shall implement them to ensure that we stabilise and get out of the situation we are in, but we shall still remain with eyes focused on the ball because we have got no choice but to ensure that we address these matters. And practically, if we had started what we are doing now 10 years ago, we could have been talking a different story. But the start has to be done now and we can’t avoid it and unfortunately we are the ones who have to face the blunt and make sure that we face these challenges head on,” he said.

And Kampyongo further assured that people’s concerns over the presence of PF cadres in bus stations was receiving the required attention and would be addressed soon.

“The issue of Ishmael Kankara, we have started engaging. We had stakeholders meeting with them. My ministry and Ministry of Transport and Communications, we engaged these stakeholders and we have received their submissions. And we have also made it very clear to our youths that are in these facilities, the stations, to ensure that they start observing the law. So there are measures that we are going to put in place. Wearing both jackets as PF youth Chairman and Home Affairs Minister, I will play my role to make sure that we bring sanity and that our traveling public are not inconvenienced. Even our bus drivers who move people from place to place must operate in an environment that is okay. So the issues that Ishmael complained about are receiving the necessary attention from the authorities,” Kampyongo said.

The minister also mentioned that his ministry was holistically looking at matters to do with why police officers had been taking their own lives lately, explaining that the men and women in uniform also needed counseling because they were just human and could be stressed as well.

He also assured Zambians that law enforcers where not discharging their duties selectively as people would want to imagine.

This was after a caller asked him to explain why Chiefs and Traditional Affairs Minister Lawrence Sichalwe had still not been arrested for distributing pornographic material on social media.