LUMEZI independent member of parliament Munir Zulu says he is excited to appear before the Anti-Corruption Commission.

Zulu, who is scheduled to appear before the ACC on Friday at 09:30 hours, said in an interview that he suspected that the ACC was trying to silence him because he has been its fierce critic.

“I suspect this summon is aimed at silencing my voice because I have been criticizing their modus operandi. But we have got a country to protect and I wish ACC well. I was once a complainant there and they did nothing. I was a complainant at ACC in 2019, I gave them all the leads and they didn’t execute and today they are summoning me, does it make sense?” he asked.

“I only withdrew my complaint last year October because I saw that the commission was not acting on the case for two years after they spent four to five hours recording a statement from me. So now I want to see how possible it is that I am calling them corrupt and now they are summoning me. And I am very excited that I am appearing before ACC, I am extremely excited because I am not only going there as Lumezi 1 but as Secretary General for African Parliamentary Network Against Corruption.”

And Zulu said he did not want to create an impression that he was not cooperating with the ACC.

“Initially, ACC called me when I was in my constituency just before New Year and it was an impossibility because Lumezi is 800 kilometers from Lusaka. So now I can confirm that I called them that I am back in Lusaka and they have confirmed that I can appear before them this Friday at 9:30. I called them because I don’t want ACC to be calling me when I am not around and create a narration that I am not cooperative” said Zulu.

“First, I called them on Monday because I arrived in Lusaka on Sunday. I called and said that I am back in Lusaka asking when can I appear but they just said that we will call you back and never called back. Tuesday passed without a call from them. And so today [Wednesday] I called them because I have a trip to my constituency on Sunday because there is something I am doing. I told them that I am traveling to my constituency and tomorrow you are going to tell Zambians that I am not cooperative, ‘can you give me a day’, and that is how I was connected to a certain Mr Raymond who said that I should appear before the commission on Friday at 90:30. It is my call and not their call which set a date for my appearance.”