MATERO PF member of parliament Lloyd Kaziya says his party has been fighting him for exposing illegalities in his constituency because it embraces corruption.

And Kaziya says the Lusaka and Kitwe City Councils’ three-month suspension is an embarrassment to both the ruling party and President Edgar Lungu because they will fail to account for all the wrong doing ahead of the 2021 general election.

In an interview, Kaziya lamented that the PF had allowed party cadres to engage in illegalities in the name of the party, but that he would not tolerate it.

“I have been vindicated! Look at what social media was writing about me. You know, there is more to that (councillor Annie Chinyanta) altercation. But people don’t know the background to that altercation and look at how I have been vindicated. Whatever they have been hiding, whatever they have been doing with Miles Sampa (Lusaka Mayor), whatever the Committee in the Council had been doing, approving illegal land allocations has been revealed! Imagine if they were to be fully investigated, how much land have they sold? There is this group that has been awarding land to Indians, and foreigners. How much have they eaten? And this has just exposed Emmasdale alone, but how much more damage have they done to Lusaka? You see that what happened in Emmasdale has now escalated to Kitwe and this is why they have revoked licenses in Lusaka and Kitwe. And even Ndola was supposed to be revoked because Lusambo left a mess there!” Kaziya said.

He vowed that he would soon report the selling of the railway line in Matero constituency to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

“The problem which is there is that because it is involving cadres, we are concealing these issues. The Njanji railway line is gone! They have cashed in on it. And I am bringing this before the ACC to probe them. The Chunga Roundabout has been sold to Zambeef. Our own PF Constituency team sold that and shared the money,” he said.

Kaziya said he had remained unpopular among PF cadres in Matero because of his stance against illegalities, charging that even the PF secretariat was siding with criminals.

“You see, I have been fighting these kinds of illegalities in Matero for a long time and this is why I am not popular among the cadres in Matero. Even the secretariat has joined siding with criminals! The secretary general (Davies Mwila) is one person that has warned me that I should ‘pay Miles Sampa for defaming him!’ He claims to own Matero Stadium, which he doesn’t own and he has dragged me to the High Court. He thinks he is going to get my benefits, in his dreams?” he wondered.

He said from the time he was adopted and elected, he had not given his party structures in his constituency latitude to corrupt his mind into doing illegalities.

“So, you can see how much the PF cadres, the PF structures have fought me from the day of adoption. I can tell you that I have never worked with this group because they have tried to compromise me and I have never given them that latitude to corrupt my mind in any way. These illegalities, we have allowed them. We have allowed lawlessness in the country and more especially in Lusaka. How are people going to perceive all of us? To be the same, all of us to be corrupt? If the councils have been suspended, the licenses revoked and investigations are now ongoing, what picture is it painting to the masses? Who are we, as PF?” Kaziya wondered.

“And they thought they were fighting a nonentity, [but] now I have taught them a lesson. Sometimes when we keep quiet, it doesn’t mean that we don’t know anything. We are fully knowledgeable, we have been fighting these things quietly, but they brought it upon themselves. Had it not been for that video going viral, you wouldn’t have known about this. And people are just watching to say, ‘niba PF balekeni’, but 2021 is coming. It’s only next year. My message is that I am not going to tolerate any kind of illegal activities. And as a party, they have fought me, meaning that they embrace corruption, meaning that they embrace illegalities because it’s not the first time I am exposing such things,” he added.

And Kaziya said the suspension of the two councils was an embarrassment to both the ruling party and President Lungu.

“So, this is quite embarrassing on the part of the party, it’s embarrassing on my part, it’s embarrassing to the President because how, then, are we going to explain to the people in 2021? That we mean well? When we have allowed our cadres to do whatever they want to do, when we have allowed the cadres to harass people in the markets? A poor marketeer, who is selling tomatoes earning a K10 each day, then you go and grab a K5 from that person, in the name of the party? What does that do to the community? A trader wakes up at 04:00 hours to order tomatoes at Soweto Market and goes to sell at the market, then during the day, a cadre goes round to collect a K5 from her when she has only sold a K20. Who is that trader working for? Cadres who are seated in their offices only waiting to go and collect money in the evening? Is this what we stand for when we talk about pro-poor?” he wondered.

Kaziya stressed that he had been restraining himself from speaking out despite his dismissal as Water Development, Sanitation and Environmental Protection minister two years ago to protect the image of the ruling party.

“So, sometimes when some of us remain quiet, it doesn’t mean that we don’t want to talk about the injustices that are happening in the community. We are just trying to protect our image as a party. If I wanted, I would have been ranting a long time ago. I mean, how long have I been fired as a minister? From 14th February, 2018, but have I been ranting like my colleagues? No. I have respected my President, I have respected the party. I have never wanted to embarrass them in the manner the recording was done,” said Kaziya.

Asked if he was not scared of not being re-adopted next year following his remarks, Kaziya said: “You know, they say, ‘we will cross the bridge when we get there.’ I wouldn’t want to start telling you my intentions now.”

Take a listen to Lloyd Kaziya’s interview:

At a media briefing on Monday, PF secretary general Davies Mwila said Kaziya had abandoned the party and he would be replaced in 2021.