“Ministers Don’t Need a Lifestlye Audit”

Vice President Inonge Wina says there is no need for a lifestyle audit for ministers.The Vice President says this is because they declare their assets when assuming office.Mrs. Wina told parliament today that auditing Ministers alone as some people are trying to justify does not make sense because their assets are already known.Responding to a question by Chimwemwe Member of Parliament ELIAS MWILA during the Vice President’s Question and Answer session, Mrs. Wina said auditing Ministers alone would be unfair unless it is extended to all Zambians, an exercise she said is not possible.And responding to Kabompo MP Ambrose Lufuma who questioned why government has ignored findings of the Financial Intelligence Report -FIC- on about 6 -point one billion kwacha having been obtained by Politically Exposed Persons, Mrs. WINA said the FIC is jus but one of the investigative wings and not the final authority.The Vice President said the FIC is a creation of government to promote democracy and ensure corruption, money laundering and terrorism among other vices are clamped down hence cannot be ignored.She said some of the issues raised by the FIC are already in court.And Mrs. Wina said government will not declare a hunger crisis in the country because it has adequate maize stock in the storage facilities.She said the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit -DMMU- which is under her office has already started distributing relief food in affected districts.Responding to leader of the opposition in parliament Jack Mwimbu on calls by some Catholic bishops in Mongu for government to declare a hunger crisis, The Vice President said the bishops may have their own opinions, but government has adequate stocks with more expected in the coming marketing season.Mrs. Wina advised parliamentarians to engage the DMMU when areas hit by hunger in their constituencies will receive relief food.She said government will not let anyone die from hunger when it has adequate grain stocks.Meanwhile Mrs. Wina said the opposition should not be opposing for the sake of doing so adding that they even missed out on the National Dialogue Forum – NDF.She said the forum provided a platform for them to review laws for the benefit of their electorate and advised the MPs to take part when the bills are tabled before Parliament.Mrs. Wina was responding to Bwana Mukubwa MP Jonas Chanda  who asked for her views on some people who refused to take part in the NDF but are now making noise.And on her word of encouragement to the youths in view of the conferment of honorary doctorates on Presidents Edgar Lungu and his Zimbabwean counterpart Emmerson Mnangagwa by the University of Zambia, Mrs. Wina said education is key to everything in life. She also thanked UNZA management for the gesture saying it will help in promoting good governance in Zambia and Zimbabwe. Post Views: 8
News Source: ZNBC