The once powerful cartel of Wynter Kabimba, Mutembo Nchito, Fred M’membe, and Rajan Mahtani looks like it is about to lose a key member.
The embattled Chairman of Finance Bank Rajan Mahtani has issued a statement that appears to beg forgiveness for his past attacks against Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda, betraying his former allies such as Fred M’membe, who have become subjects of investigations by law enforcement authorities.
According to the statement published on the Lusaka Times, Mahtani is quoted as saying that he “has profound respect for Mr Chikwanda adding that he does not want anyone to come between his friendship with the Finance Minister.”
This respect, however, is not mutual. In a recent Post Newspaper article quoting a secret recording of the Finance Minister, Chikwanda remarks that Mahtani’s Finance Bank is operating illegally.
Mahtani first became embroiled in the attacks against Chikwanda before the firing of Justice Minister Kabimba, who was fighting a competing faction within the ruling Patriotic Front party led by the Finance Minister and other prominent members of the Bemba tribe. Sources say that Mahtani instructed his employee Bishop John Mambo to join the attack against Chikwanda with regard to VAT repayments, leading him to release multiple statements.
On August 19, acting on these instructions from Mahtani, Bishop Mambo told the Post that Chikwanda would be “arrested,” and that the minister had “clearly been exposed and he must step down.”
“The president must go back to the drawing board and evaluate the performance of his ministers and remove those that are taking him backwards,” Mambo said. “He must not reshuffle ministers like Chikwanda but remove them from his government, failure to which the road for PF ahead of 2016 will remain bumpy.”
To date, Bishop Mambo has still not been removed from his position at Zambezi Portland Cement (ZPC) by Mahtani, nor has Mahtani ordered Mambo to retract his attacks against the Finance Minister.
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