RE: IN RESPONSE TO YOUR PRESS STATEMENT I write to express my disappointment for your emotional response on the questions we had raised in our press statement dated 7th December 2015. It appears that you were overtaken by emotions and so you addressed most of the points in fallacies and not coherently as we had asked. Firstly, I would like to say that we are not singling any one political leader out. Zambian Voice will be challenging all parties about financial transparency issues. Our questions to Mr. Hakainde Hichilema were very direct. He is the leader of your party. As such we expected Mr. Hichilema to respond to the questions we had put before him. However, Mr. Hichilema decided to avoid our questions for reasons we can only speculate about. Maybe Mr. Hichilema thinks he might implicate himself by directly dealing with our issues; or maybe the truth is overwhelming to him and so he is too embarrassed to admit publicly that he is receiving money at a cost that Zambians might have to pay for in future. It could also be that Mr. Hichilema is too bureaucratic and majestic to engage simple and ordinary people like ourselves, or maybe he does not just care about people’s concerns since he is so powerful as one of the leading Presidential candidates. Anyway we will not judge Mr. Hichilema for refusing to answer our question for now, because he might do so in the near future. In our statement, we never in anyway implied that we are Law enforcers to oblige Mr. Hichilema to respond to our questions, but a mere civil society organization that promotes good governance, justice and human rights to enhance quality of life for all Zambians. In your response you have given us a lecture that there is no law that prohibits political parties from soliciting funding from anywhere they so wish. We appreciate your counsel and we are cognisant of this fact already. However we seem to differ on ethics of fundraising and acceptance of gifts or sponsorship pertaining to those who aspire to serve in public offices, especially the highest office of the land. Our view is shared with Mr. Henry Kyambalesa, a Zambian academic currently living in the City and County of Denver in the State of Colorado, USA. Mr. Kyambalesa wrote to us in response to you; that there is no shortage of financiers with personal, corporate, partisan, and/or shady external interests who are willing to provide financial support to political parties and their candidates, especially during political campaigns. Political parties and candidates for elected positions in government have a civic and moral obligation to disclose the names of individuals, organizations, and/or countries providing them with financial and/or material support. It does not really matter whether or not there is a law requiring political parties and their candidates to disclose the main sources of their funds. Any well-meaning political party or candidate that wishes to serve our beloved country and its people should oblige if and when requested to provide such information. There is a need for political parties and their candidates seeking to form government not to be arrogant or stubborn in their handling of this matter. Voters may wish to know the sources of the huge amounts of material and/or financial assistance rendered exclusively to any political party or candidate for use during political campaigns. This is a reasonable expectation considering the potential for such assistance to lead to what is referred to as “state capture”—that is, a situation that obtains when a powerful organization exerts undue influence (often through illicit means) on its host country’s state institutions, laws, regulations, and/or policies. Or, in other words, the extent to which organizations make illicit and non-transparent private payments to public officials in order to influence the generation of laws, rules, regulations, or decrees by government leaders or institutions. Ultimately, “state capture” can lead to the initiation of projects and programs, and the generation of socioeconomic policies, that are in the best interests of external parties providing campaign funds in contravention of the interests of our beloved country and its people. Beside Mr. Kyambalesa’s points above it raises serious concerns if the alleged sponsors have been cited in relation to dubious dealings in other Countries. The allegation that Mr. Hichilema and other opposition leaders were flown to the Oppenheimer family’s luxurious Tswalu game reserve in South Africa for meetings with some power brokers in Africa such as Mr. Ivor Ichikowitz, the founder of Paramount Group is serious. Paramount Group which specialises in arms and aerospace contracts in Africa. Paramount Group was mentioned in the USD$145 million (K927,881) deal involving former President of Malawi Joyce Banda over a jet. The deal was later cancelled by the Malawi government because it was “illegal and expensive,” according to the source within the finance ministry in Malawi. Mr. Hichilema has also been linked to the Brenthurst Foundation, the think-tank established by the Oppenheimer mining dynasty in South Africa. The director of Brenthurst, Dr Greg Mills, is alleged to be a personal friend of Mr. Hichilema. We appreciate and encourage inter-party dialogue but we are not talking about simple interactions between two political leaders. The meeting is alleged to have been about scheming how to dislodge the PF even before Sata was buried. Of course there is nothing wrong in opposition scheming how to win an election, but where it involves foreigners with a reputation of making big deals with governments like in Malawi, it becomes worrisome. We tried to verify some of the facts and we confirmed that Mr. Hichilema and Dr. Mumba as well as Rupiah Banda had been in South Africa on and during the days when these meetings are purported to have taken place. We also came across a contract which is believed to have been brokered by Mr. Hichilema and these foreigners, but backfired because RB refused to be part of the deal. Coincidently, shortly after the meetings the public was treated to live TV and radio coverage where moneys like K86,000 was paid to secure airtime. Such money was paid by Dr. Nevers Mumba, a party President who in the recent past was asking for better salary and other incentives for him to survive. We ask how he could afford to do this? We also saw a nice chopper worth about USD$287,000 (K1, 836.56) flying around like a motor bike carrying Mr. Hichilema and his campaign team. These are assets that cost money even for a rich man how has not shown so much of open handedness to share with the majority of our poor people. Sir, when we talk about the issues concerning privatization and the shareholdings of Mr. Hichilema, it is not about an issue of criminality. We simply want to appreciate the competence of Mr. Hichilema in handling national assets. We want him to explain with pride how he managed privatizations and how he got shares in the same companies he sold on behalf of Zambians. This is the experience he is bringing on the table if he gets to State House. I would like to emphasize that these questions we are asking are not to malign Mr. Hichilema. We are simply seeking transparency about how all politicians are raising money, we are endeavoring to make all our candidates accountable to the citizens they serve with regard to the mortgaging of our future to their financiers. Mr. Hichilema is the one we have most information on hence questioning him this time around. We can assure you that if we get more information about others or if someone (including you) has additional information then we will be ready to bring it out in the same manner. It is a disappointing feature of Zambian political culture, that when our representatives are confronted with serious questions regarding public interest, the first instinct is to get emotionally charged and evasive behaviour, insults, attacks, and even indirect threats This is not the behavior of a statesman. This is not the sort of responsibility and sincerity we need from our leadership class. For the sake of Zambia’s national interest, I pray that we can improve. We also pray that Mr. Hichilema will address these issues to show that he is not mortgaging this nation and he is a honest man. Otherwise we will keep talking about these issues. Yours faithfully, Chilufya Tayali Executive Director thezambiavoice.org/2014/12/10/response-to-upnd-press-statement-on-receiving-foreign-funding-for-campaigns/
Posted on: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 13:23:21 +0000