LUSAKA Province Minister Bowman Lusambo says people questioning his source of his wealth should go to hell because he is not stealing from government.

On Thursday, over 600 Munali constituency residents lined up at Lusambo’s house to receive a bag of mealie meal and cooking oil as Christmas gifts.

On Friday, Lusambo, who is also Kabushi PF member of parliament, presented hampers to Christmas babies born in his constituency.

And on Saturday, Lusambo also distributed 1,600 bags of mealie meal and cooking oil in Kabushi Constituency.

Some members of the public, however, questioned where Lusambo gets funds to make donations of such magnitude.

But in an interview, Lusambo wondered why people should question his wealth.

“Why should they question my wealth? Why are they trying to know where I am getting the money? Am I stealing? If I am stealing the money, let them tell me where I am stealing the money from. Why should they question me? Just because I am a minister? Who told them ministers are supposed to be paupers? Who told them ministers are supposed to be sufferers? Change your mindset. We are not 1901 ministers. We are ministers who have been to school, we are ministers who are farmers, we are ministers who do business, we are ministers who have companies. So don’t question where we are getting the money, just appreciate the gesture. Tell them, if they want to condemn, let them condemn, let them not question where the money is coming from. I work in the government. I have worked for five years, I can’t fail to buy 600 bags of mealie meal,” said Lusambo.

“The money that I get from the government, from my salary, that is the money that I use to give people. I save and I want to tell the people of Zambia that learn to save. It doesn’t mean that when we give, we have a lot, no. Whether you have K2 you can give K1. I give to appreciate what God has done in my life, he has done a lot of things in my life and the people I give are not my relatives. I just give because God has instructed us to give. So for those people questioning my gesture, tell them to go to hell. I don’t steal from the government. I use my own money. And if they want to know where I get the money from, let them think outside the box. It is not a crime to be a politician in Zambia. When I was giving in 2014, in 2015, they were not questioning me. Just because I am in the government office, they are questioning me? This is ridiculous. It is indiscipline. Why should they question me? Tell them bad manners.”