Forfeited assets so far are only tip of iceberg, you will see more, warns Hichilema
PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema says the forfeiture of dubiously-acquired property seen in the past few months are only a tip of the iceberg of what is coming.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/MfxBA9yawbfeS33L/?mibextid=oFDknk
The Head of State has warned that religion, regionalism and political affiliations will not be used to shield corruption.
President Hichilema sounded the warning when he opened the fourth session of the 14th National Assembly themed: “Enhancing national resilience: sustaining socio-economic gains in the face of adverse effects of climate change.”
In his report to the speaker of the National Assembly Nelly Mutti on September 13, 2024, President Hichilema said his government is bent on ending graft and will see to it that corruption is not condoned in whatever form.
“We are determined to eradicate all forms of corruption. We remain firmly committed to zero tolerance against this fight. All suspected cases, all forms of corruption, will not be tolerated past, present, future. There’s nothing to hide behind ethnicity, there’s nothing to hide behind religion, to hide behind political party in the fight against corruption,” he said.
“None of that stuff will be tolerated. There’s no ethnicity, there’s no religion, there’s no political affiliation in the fight against corruption.”
President Hichilema said properties worth K100 million, that were illegally acquired were repossessed in line with the Forfeiture of Proceeds of Crime Act.
“Asset recovery is part of the integral process of fighting corruption. It is an integral part against the fight against corruption,” he said
“In the last few months only, your government has recovered over K100 million worth of properties, K56.6 million cash, US$30.8 million cash, these has been forfeited to the State and we are restoring value to the true owners, the citizens of Zambia.”
He called for concerted efforts in the fight against graft.
“The figures are there. Should you wish to know madam chair, from one individual we recovered over 25 million dollars. One individual, so this house must be united on the fight against corruption,”President Hichilema said.
He said the State was lagging behind in the fight against corruption because, the laws were inefficacious.
“We started slow because the laws were weak, we amended the laws, we started slow because the court procedures were weak and were being abused. We looked through we amended those, the fight against corruption and the recovery of assets has now gathered speed,” President Hichilema said.
The Head of State said the forfeited assets so far is just a small fraction, as more ill-gotten wealth will be recovered.
“You will see more, this is nothing, this is the tip of the iceberg. Yes it’s in public domain, didn’t we take a motor vehicle only two days or three days ago? We did, we did, we did, we did, “””””and when I say we did all of us because this is government and parliament is part of government,” he said.
President Hichilema further commended lawmakers for participating in the legislative process to strengthen the laws of the land.
“We want to thank you the members of parliament for allowing the legislative changes that we push through once we realize the difficulties and also the learning points that we did by sending our teams around the region, around the world and we are doing fine in that area,” said President Hichilema.
“So please no ethnicity, no religion affiliation, no political party affiliation, no cultural heritage affiliation, this fight will continue and let’s just work together and you will see how many desks we buy and hospitals we build.”
By Mwaka Ndawa
Kalemba September 15, 2024.
Forfeited assets so far are only tip of iceberg, you will see more, warns Hichilema
