Party leader, Kunda, alleges looting of public treasury through frivolous court awards to UPND members

Zambia Wake-Up Party (ZAWAPA) president, Howard Kunda, has criticized the huge compensations being given to the United Party for National Development (UPND) members that sued the State.

Early this week, Transport Minister, Frank Tayali, was awarded K450,000 by the Lusaka High Court on account of the supposed trauma he went through when a Policeman pointed a gun at him in 2020 during the Patriotic Front administration.

UPND Lusaka Province Chairperson, Obvious Mwaliteta, and James Sichomba had also been awarded with K900,000 each as compensation for wrongful prosecution.

Kunda in a statement issued in Lusaka on Thursday, said the acts by Attorney-General Kabesha Mulilo on behalf of the state and the Courts on the other hand, amount to looting of public funds.

“I am saddened by the issue of these huge compensations; I think our country is worsening in terms of governance,” he stated.

Kunda wonders whether this was the kind of change the people of Zambia voted for, which was only to put money in the pockets of the leaders.

“I think they should be ashamed of themselves by wanting to loot the resources of the country through this same compensation,” Kunda added.

He stated that the UPND administration had shown the nation that they were just a group of people that want to loot the country in form of compensation.

The former Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee Chairperson warned that people getting huge compensations risk being prosecuted and jailed in future.

“If our forefathers who fought for our independence resorted to wanting to get compensation after independence how much money were we going to remain with,” Kunda asked.

He said all the money would have gone to compensate freedom fighters and that these compensations by the government were a day light robbery.

“This is something all of us must be against. When ZAWAPA is voted in office in 2026 everyone who has stolen money from the people of Zambia in this way of compensation will not only pay back but also be jailed,” Kunda stated.

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