DEMOCRATIC Party leader Harry Kalaba has charged that the PF government wants to continue being in power so that they can carry on with corruption.

And Kalaba says authorities should take interest in knowing the kind of business Foreign Affairs Minister Joe Malanji is doing in the Middle East.

On Monday, Malanji donated K600,000 to marketeers in Solwezi District and further claimed that the money he made from the Middle East was clean, as he was paying 20 per cent withholding.

But in an interview, Monday, Kalaba expressed shock at the donated amount, and further stated that in a normal system, ministers would think twice before flashing out money of that magnitude.

He urged authorities to take interest in knowing the kind of business Malanji was doing in the Middle East.

“He donated K600,000 cash? Isn’t that money laundering? That is a lot of money. This system is totally broken because in a normal system, ministers will think twice before doing an act like that. To flash money of that magnitude, they would be conscious. I don’t know whether he is generating that money from his businesses or using the office as Foreign [Affairs] Minister. As Foreign [Affairs] Minister, it becomes very difficult to begin getting money from Asia, Middle East because it is your name that people will be using as Foreign [Affairs] Minister. It is a very serious issue. It puts the country’s sovereignty on trial. The Authorities must take interest in knowing what kind of business the minister is doing in the Middle East and if there is a connection with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, because if there is a waiver being given or consideration he is being given because of the portfolio he is holding, that is a problem. It is an issue that borders on morality, it is an issue that one should practice self-restraint,” Kalaba said.

He charged that the PF government didn’t mean well and only wanted to continue being in power so that they could carry on with corruption.

“How come before you occupied that office, you were not giving that kind of money? But in a country like ours where the government has lost interest in the fight against corruption, this is what you get. We are in trouble. Money has been used before and it has never worked. Even if you are giving money, it is not everybody benefiting from that money, the majority will not benefit. So they might want to give loans to churches, marketeers and this is where our people should begin to see through the actions of PF. The PF doesn’t mean well. All they want is to continue being in power but they can’t tell us why they should continue being in power, they only want to be in power to continue [with] corruption and make this country to continue going down. We are below average as a country,” Kalaba said.

Speaking when he met marketeers in Solwezi, Monday, Malanji emphasized that his company could do business with entities in the Middle East.

“Don’t be cheated by the people who want to sway your line of thought because they have seen that the only marketable lie is to say ‘people in government are thieves.’ Me standing here as Minister of Foreign Affairs, you can ask any director in any ministry, you can ask any permanent secretary in any ministry they will not tell you that ‘Malanji’s company came to lobby for business or contracts in any of the government ministries.’ But they want to get excited with the newspapers ‘no Malanji has got money from the Middle East’ my company can do business with entities in the Middle East, Asia, anywhere, because that money when we are doing projects outside this country, the money is coming through the account for Gibsons Power Systems in Zambia and we are even paying withholding tax 20 percent to the government’s treasury,” said Malanji.