MDC-T Secretary-General Douglas Mwonzora has dismissed as total rubbish allegations that councillors and legislators are clandestinely paying bribes to avoid expulsion from Council and Parliament respectively.
Speaking to 263Chat, Mwonzora said allegations of bribe are part of a smear campaign against the upcoming Extra-Ordinary Congress.
“That is total rubbish. This issue about bribery is part of a smear campaign that is there because of the congress. The congress is going ahead we are still working on the issue of clearance remember it is ordered by the Supreme Court so it cannot be stopped by anything else except that court of law” said Mwonzora
He said recalls are instructed by the party’s standing committee at the recommendations of provinces.
“The recalls follow recommendations from a province and they will then be processed through the Secretary for Local Government if its councillors and thereafter the secretary brings them to the standing committee. If the standing committee agrees then the committee instructs the secretary-general to write the letter. So it is a process that involves more than one person. So giving financial incentive or whatever incentive to one individual does not assist anybody,” he said
Mwonzora said they had received a lot of notifications instructing them to recall party members however, he said they consider a number of factors before taking action.
“We have received a lot of notifications from the provinces. Our aim is not to just recall people we look at a number of factors one of which is the truthfulness of the allegations upon which a recommendation is there, for example, it is easy for people to make allegations against other people either as a result of hatred or just sheer opportunism so we look at all that. Recalling a person is a drastic thing to do and we cannot afford to do it via mistake.” Mwonzora said
There had been reports that some MDC Alliance Councilors and Legislators are bribing Mwonzora so that they cannot be recalled the two institutions.
A total of 21 legislators have been recalled from Parliament for pledging their allegiance to MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa.
