Kamlepo, Chaponda exchange bitter words
FORMER Agriculture minister George Chaponda has reacted angrily to allegations by Rumphi East member of Parliament Kamlepo Kalua that the Mulanje South West member of Parliament was behind Kalua’s abduction.
In an interview on Saturday, Chaponda described the allegations Kalua made in parliament on Thursday as total trash.
“That is totally untrue. When a person who is mad is quarrelling with a sane person people will not see the difference. I better keep quiet. But this was totally absurd,” Chaponda said.
Kalua alleged in the House that the main player in his abduction was Chaponda and Deputy Inspector General Duncan Mwapasa.
Kalua said on the day of his abduction, he was dropped off by his son by the road where he usually parks his vehicle in Chileka, Blantyre but on his way to his building site, he was approached by two men who forcibly dragged him into a land cruiser where he was masked and they headed to an unknown place.
However, the police insist that the abduction was staged. Chaponda said Kalua should not abuse his immunity in Parliament.
“If indeed what he said is true, why didn’t he report to police? Why has it taken him almost three weeks to say this? This is really absurd,” said Chaponda.
The former minister said he was surprised that Kalua chose to speak on the matter when Chaponda himself was not present in Parliament. He said Kalua is making such allegations when police and Interpol are looking for him in connection with his vehicles.
Mwapasa could not be reached for comment but police spokesperson James Kadadzera told a local radio that what Kalua said about Mwapasa is untrue.
“Probably the honourable just wants to divert people’s attention on his case regarding the vehicles,” he said.
Kalua refused to speak on the matter outside Parliament. In his prepared speech before going to Parliament, Kalua had named the seven cabinet ministers who are allegedly involved in the looting of K236 billion but did not read out the names in Parliament.
The speech that Kalua distributed to journalists at Parliament had one page removed. In an interview later, Kalua said the removed page had names of the seven cabinet ministers but decided not to mention them on Thursday, saying he wanted to come up with more information before the names are released.
For a long time, Kalua has been threatening that he would reveal the names of the ministers who were involved in the looting but he is yet to do so attracting criticism from some quarters that he was just trying to gain attention of the public.
A vibrant writer who gives a great insight on hot topics and issues
