UPND deputy secretary general Patrick Mucheleka says Rainbow Party leader Wynter Kabimba has always been bitter towards President Hakainde Hichilema.

Commenting on Kabimba’s remarks that if President Hichilema continued making pronouncements that the PF government was corrupt he would force investigative agencies to start rounding up innocent people, Mucheleka said Kabimba had always had a grudge against the Head of State.

“Wynter Kabimba has always had a grudge for whatever reason against our President. I think it is coming out of sheer jealousy. As far as I know, they should be brothers but you have a brother who is so jealous of the achievements of the other brother. That may explain the bitterness that Wynter Kabimba has against our President. It is not anything new. You will never find anywhere that Wynter has had any kind words for President Hichilema and being a statesman, he has never responded to Wynter’s bitterness,” Mucheleka said.

He said the corruption in PF was so rampant that it was in their genes.

“If there is one political party that was very corrupt, and where corruption was so rampant, it was in their genes, it is PF. It is one of the reasons as to why Zambian people rose up, especially the young people and women to vote out PF. The issue of empowerment funds, up to now, no one can tell you from the time PF was in power how this money has been utilized or if there is a project anywhere in the country where the youths have benefited or if there is a project of which these funds were used. You won’t find. There is an issue of Higer buses, go to the Ministry of Youths and Sports, you will not find a single bus. We don’t know whether they are moving or not. Recently, there was an issue of the so-called fuel tankers, it is PF and some of their leaders who were involved in corruption and the evidence is there through the Financial Intelligence Centre reports pointing to that fact,” Mucheleka said.

Mucheleka further called on investigative wings to do better now that there was no interference in their work.

“The main reason perhaps there might not have been convictions on any PF senior member apart from Emerine Kabanshi is because there was no political will by the PF government to fight corruption. They were tolerating corruption, they were benefiting from it. We have seen how the Anti-Corruption Commission, the Drug Enforcement Commission, FIC are giving out information, summoning individuals. Except those institutions also, they can do better, they need to jack up their standards. Especially now that there is no interference in their work, they must rise to the occasion. They must go back to their files, they have them and they know who is corrupt. They must bring to book every corrupt element from the PF,” he said.

Mucheleka said once stolen money was recovered, it would be channeled to key sectors like youth employment.

“The youths are looking for opportunities, they are looking for jobs. Once that stolen money is recovered and it is redirected in the key sectors of our society such as education, health and other social sectors, the other money will be used in economic activities where the youths can participate and that can lead to access to job opportunities. Where there is rampant corruption, there is lack of resources that can help to create jobs. That is why the President has created special vehicles such as the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprise, it is meant to make sure that we bring down corruption and create jobs,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mucheleka said the PF government forced out former US Ambassador to Zambia Daniel Foote because he commented on corruption.

“Why shouldn’t the President talk about corruption? Who doesn’t know that there was corruption in Zambia? We have diplomats accredited to Zambia who have been part and parcel of what has been going on. Remember they forced out the American Ambassador to Zambia Daniel Foote because he commented on some of these elements of corruption. They should explain how they chased the Ambassador, as I speak, we don’t even have a US Ambassador to Zambia. Now that we have a new government in place, we hope that they can upgrade the American Embassy in Zambia to the status of an Ambassador,” said Mucheleka.

“Remember they are the same ones that forced out the IMF country representative who commented on corruption. So what is Wynter saying that we must not be commenting and that President HH must not talk about Zambia’s corruption in America? Everybody knows. And those people have representatives in Zambia, they know what is happening because they receive reports.”