I’LL NOT PAY BACK - KAPATA

...minister insists she worked for the money.

IWILL not pay back the money ordered by Constitution Court because we gave a service to the country which we were supposed to be paid for, Minister of Land and Natural Resources Jean Kapata has said.

And Ms Kapata said some Ministers were working on modalities to engage a lawyer to sue the government over the decision made by the

Constitutional Court because they cannot render service for free.

She said in an exclusive interview yesterday that whenever a person rendered a service they were supposed to be paid, stating that Ministers could not work for free.

The Minister said she would not be part of the Ministers that would decide to pay back because she worked for the money she was paid.

“I am personally not one of the Ministers that will pay back the money. And we need to contest this issue because we worked, therefore, we were also supposed to be paid. We worked for three months solid. So we will be suing the government over the matter, we are just looking for someone who can help to sue the government because we can’t work for free,” Ms Kapata said.

The Constitutional Court ordered 64 ministers to pay the money for staying in office illegally.

Recently State House spokesperson Isaac Chipampe said President Edgar Lungu ordered ministers to stay in office in 2016 because that was the interpretation of the law by the executive at the time, but the judiciary has corrected him now and he can’t interfere with the court ruling that ordered ministers to pay back their salaries.

And President Lungu says he is consulting technocrats on the way forward since some ministers have refused to pay back because they provided a service.

President Lungu told journalist at an interaction function at State House last week that he respected the court decision but the matter needed further consultation because minister did work and signed MOUs in some cases.

I am personally not one of the Ministers that will pay back the money. And we need to contest this issue because we worked, therefore, we were also supposed to be paid. We worked for three solid months.