CORNELIUS Mweetwa says foreign affairs minister Harry has led the way out of the mud by respecting the Constitutional Court’s ruling that all ministers who served after dissolution of parliament last year did so illegally and must pay back the salaries and allowances obtained.

Kalaba, the Bahati PF member of parliament, has written Cabinet, through his permanent secretary, to find out modalities for payment of money he received when he served after dissolution of parliament last year ahead of the August 11 general elections.

However, President Edgar Lungu has instructed the ministers to sue the state instead and not pay back the money.

“We have a letter here from honorable Kalaba who has written through the PS instructing us to find out modalities in which he can pay back the money he got after Parliament was dissolved. The letter came through this (last) week after ConCourt ruling on the same. He is the only so far who has written us saying he wants to pay back. May be other ministers will do the same, we will see as we go on,” said a source.

Kalaba reluctantly confirmed having made instructions to Cabinet over paying back the money.

“The competent court has ruled, who am I not to obey? I have no option in the matter, I respect the ruling,” said Kalaba in his brief comments on Sunday.

Commenting on Kalaba’s decision to pay back the money, Mweetwa, who is African Parliamentarians Network Against Corruption (APNAC) Zambia chapter president said all minister, including those who were left out after August 11, should emulate Kalaba in doing what was right as that money belonged to the Zambian people.

He said the ministers illegal stay in office and receiving public resources that was erroneously paid to them was a national scandal.

“We welcome the move that foreign affairs minister honorable Kalaba has taken to respect the rule of law, in this particular case to pay back the money which was illegally obtained arising out of an illegal stay in office,” Mweetwa said.

“How we wish people had come up at the same time to be able to remind President Lungu that, that stay in office was illegal so that it shouldn’t have taken place in the first place. We from outside the PF told them that their stay was illegal but as usual, they acted with impunity and now we are being told by honourable Kambwili that it was President Lungu’s directives, it was President Lungu who misdirected them, that’s what honourable Kambwili said but that’s water under the bridge.”

He commended Kalaba on his stance and urged others to also pay back.

“Honourable Kalaba has led the way out of the mud, let others follow suit; there is no shame in doing what is right. For now, we are concerned about the recovery of public resources that was erroneously paid to the former ministers. It is in this vain that when something has happened, which we think is an indication of what leadership should be, people should be magnanimous to point it out that this is okay and so we believe that the stance that honourable Kalaba has taken is the right one. Clearly, you can see that it is a personal position because we are told that President Lungu, if stories we read in the media are anything to go by, we are told that he is saying that they should not pay but instead sue the government,” Mweetwa said .

He further urged Republican Vice-President Inonge Wina to compel her ministers to pay back the money.

Mweetwa also urged the government to indicate to the Zambian people how they intended to recover the said money in same way Kalaba had written to the secretary to the treasury.

“Even those that are quiet and have retired, who are no longer members of parliament and others who are no longer ministers, we want to hear where they stand on this matter because they are still leaders in the eyes of the public. We want them to come out in the open like honourable Kalaba on when they are going to pay back because that is not their money, that is not PF money, that is not anybody’s money that they were getting paid, it is taxpayers’ money,”
said Mweetwa.

“We want them to emulate, starting with the Vice-President who is leader of government business, we want to see that she whips her ministers who are part and parcel of this programme of paying back. We want to see that they pay back, there is no two ways about it, and there is no debate. And we want government to quickly indicate to the people of Zambia how they intend to recover this money the same way honourable Kalaba has written to the Treasury to find out how he is going to pay back. We expect government to come out, they should not be mute. This is a national scandal. In advanced democracies, we would have had people resigning for obtaining public funds in an illegal way. There is remedy as honourable has led the way, let others follow suit.”