TRANSPARENCY International Zambia (TIZ ) says the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) should expedite their investigations into former Ministry of Health permanent secretary in charge of administration Kakulubelwa Mulalelo in order not to be seen to be delaying the process unnecessarily.

On Tuesday, ACC recorded a warn and caution statement from former Mulalelo saying it would, in due course, transmit the case file to the National Prosecutions Authority for further action.

Responding to a query on this, TIZ executive director Maurice Nyambe said the seriousness of the Honeybee matter over which the former PS was being investigated demanded that the case be dealt with expeditiously and comprehensively.

“We urge the ACC to expedite their process of investigating the former MoH PS in order not to be seen to be delaying the process unnecessarily. The seriousness of the Honeybee matter over which the former PS is being investigated demands that the case be dealt with expeditiously and comprehensively. If the case is solid enough to go be prosecuted, then that should be done expeditiously in order for justice to be assured in this matter. We have not forgotten that in the case of the former Minister of Community Development Ms (Emerine) Kabanshi, the process seemed to have been undertaken with flawless efficiency and our hope is that we will see the same speed and efficiency in this particular matter,” Nyambe said.

And commenting on Lusaka Province Minister Bowman Lusambo’s remarks that it would be difficult to empower people without giving them money, Nyambe said such actions demeaned the voters and stripped them of their dignity.

“Honorable Lusambo’s statement that it is difficult to empower people without giving them money makes sad reading and shows how out of touch our leaders are with reality. We would like to put it to him that throwing money at the electorate is not empowering them in the real sense of the word. In fact, what that does is to demean the recipients and strip them of their dignity since it puts a price on their vote. Rather than use money, honorable Lusambo and his colleagues should empower the electorate with their convincing workable agenda for how they will turn around the dwindling fortunes of this country,” said Nyambe.

“It appears that our politicians have found an easy escape for failure to convince the masses about their agenda, resorting to the demeaning practice of throwing money at them in the misguided belief that they are empowering them. As TI-Z we condemn those acts in the strongest possible terms. Our hope is to see a political discourse that focuses on a competitive exchange of ideas on how we will improve our country, rather than putting a premium on the influence of money within our political processes.”