FORMER State House chief policy analyst Jack Kalala says the report of theft at Medical Stores Limited involving senior police officers should not come as a surprise to Zambians as most oversight institutions under the PF are compromised.
Commenting on the latest scandal involving high-profile cops exposed for plundering drugs at Medical Stores, Kalala said all institutions under the PF government were compromised and “rotten.”
“The report of theft at Medical Stores involving senior police officers should not come as a surprise to the nation. As everyone is following the ‘master general’s’ directive that ‘ubomba mwibala alye mwibala.’ I have no doubt at all that the scam of these officers is a tip of the iceberg. There should be more serious scams going on involving the top hierarchy in the system. It is not a surprise that they are traffic checkpoints everywhere. Those serve as ATMs, there is no transport to investigate crimes, but there is always transport to take traffic officers to various checkpoints in the morning and in afternoon. This happens every day, including holidays,” Kalala said in an interview.
“The case at Medical Stores will not go anywhere. In due course, it will just fade away like smoke in the air and people will eventually forget about it like it has happened to other scandals, such as gassing Zambians under the ‘master general.’ All institutions are compromised and rotten! Nothing is functioning. All the oversight institutions in the country have been rendered dysfunctional. It is the strategic grand scheme of the ‘master general’ to let everyone in the system be compromised so that no one holds the other accountable. People running our institutions have been turned into ‘kleptomaniacs’ because that is how the ‘master general’ wants it to be for his convenience. Something is amiss in the system, but it should not come as a surprise as everyone is following the ‘master general’s’ order, that ‘kulya mwibala.’ Something is terribly wrong in our country.”
He bemoaned the systematic breakdown in the country’s governance institutions meant to provide oversight, checks and balances on the Executive.
“It has been disheartening and heart-rending to read the Auditor General’s report where you find institutions where you least expect scams of theft being implicated in plundering. The Zambia Army, ZAF, ZNS, OP and the Zambia Police have been highly disciplined institutions, but they are no more under the PF regime and the ‘master general’s’ leadership. You can see how the most top active civil servants have become rich; they are running big businesses and driving very big expensive cars! They have built mansions that could only be afforded by American film stars.”
And Kalala, who served in the president Levy Mwanawasa administration, said regime change was the only solution to restoring law and order.
“To restore sanity in our country and systems, Zambia needs regime change. If the ‘master general’ and his regime of ‘kleptomaniacs’ are left to continue beyond 2021, there will be no Zambia to talk about by 2021. Zambia does not need financial bailout or relief. Zambia urgently needs regime change, after that, the rest will fall in place. Before it was unheard of to hear such scandals at the rate it is happening now,” said Kalala.
Several high-ranking police officers are currently detained for conniving to steal drugs from Medical Stores Limited.
According to a Diggers investigation, the police officers used forged documents and dispatch notes to collect an assortment of drugs from Medical Stores, which they would take for sale in Central Province, among other places.
