Matero councillors dismiss MP’s graft charges
By CHITE MTONGA and MUKOSELA KASALWE TWO Lusaka councillors have described as baseless and malicious accusations by Matero Member of Parliament Lloyd Kaziya that some of them were conniving with unscrupulous individuals to corruptly sell government land to briefcase buyers.
The two, Patriotic Front (PF) ward 24 councillor Elijah Makungu and Matero Kapwepwe 25 councillor Patrick Salubusa challenged Mr Kaziya to produce evidence to substantiate the allegations.
This follows allegations by PF Matero MP Lloyd Kaziya that some councillors were conniving with unscrupulous individuals to corruptly sell government land to briefcase buyers.
Mr Kaziya is Minister of Water Development, Sanitation and Environmental Protection.
“The truth is I have only met the man once, and the last time I spoke to him was a year ago and you can imagine this is amidst disasters that have occurred in my ward where some people have even died, and this of course speaks volumes about the kind of relationship he has with me,” Mr Makungu said.
Mr Makungu challenged the MP to produce evidence on the allegations. He said Mr Kaziya was not being honest by accusing councillors but was afraid of being challenged in the constituency by one of the councillors,” no wonder he failed to single out which council- lors were corrupt.
Mr Makungu said the MP was geared to dent the reputation of the councilors but that would not happen as the truth would soon come out.
And Matero Kapwepwe 25 councillor Patrick Salubusa has urged area Member of Parliament Lloyd Kaziya to bring all the councillors in his ward to a roundtable discussion and point out which of the councillors is involved in the road reserves scandal.
Mr Salubusa said it was unfair to brand all councillors as being corrupt.
He challenged the MP to take any evidence of alleged corruption to the Lusaka City Council for appropriate action.
Mr Salubusa said Mr Kaziya was a father figure and that he should have summoned the civic leaders and that if they were corrupt they were willing to change.
“The MP is a father figure and what we expected was for him to summon all of us as councillors,” he said.
Mr Salubusa was reacting to a strong in the Daily Nation.
He said it was not easy for a councillor to give land as the LCC had put up stringent requirements for land to be given out and that besides that the city had run out of land.