{"id":10322,"date":"2023-12-27T17:13:33","date_gmt":"2023-12-27T17:13:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/?p=10322"},"modified":"2023-12-27T17:13:33","modified_gmt":"2023-12-27T17:13:33","slug":"zambias-foreign-minister-stanley-kakubo-resigns-over-cash-on-table-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/10322\/zambias-foreign-minister-stanley-kakubo-resigns-over-cash-on-table-video\/","title":{"rendered":"Zambia’s Foreign Minister Stanley Kakubo resigns over cash-on-table video"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Zambia’s Foreign Minister Stanley Kakubo has quit after he was allegedly caught on video receiving a stack of cash from a Chinese businessman.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He did not deny he was in the video.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Instead, Mr Kakubo said he was facing “malicious claims over a business transaction” and had resigned so that the government was not “distracted” by the controversy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The video shows two men sitting by a table counting the neatly stacked cash, both US dollars and Zambian kwacha.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Their faces are not visible, but it led to a frenzy of speculation on social media that the men were Mr Kakubo and a Chinese businessman.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Some people questioned why a bank transfer had not been made and whether taxes had been paid following the transaction.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Unverified images of signed handwritten notes also surfaced on social media. One said that $100,000 had been “exchanged” between a Zambian and a Chinese mining company. Another, dated 8 July 2022, mentioned a total sum of $200,000.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In his resignation letter, Mr Kakubo did not dispute the authenticity of the video or the handwritten notes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Instead, he said he was the victim of “malicious claims over a business transaction between my private family business and our business partner with whom we still have good relations”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He said he had resigned as a minister to ensure that the government was not “distracted” from its efforts to improve the lives of Zambians, but he would remain an MP.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“In due course, we will provide the accurate context surrounding the recent developments,” the Lusaka Times news site quoted Mr Kakubo as saying.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Mr Hichilema accepted his resignation, saying he acknowledged Mr Kakubo’s “commendable work and leadership”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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This is the second time that Mr Kakubo has found himself at the centre of controversy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Last year, he was accused of receiving a bribe after he was spotted leaving the office of a Chinese-owned cement company with a briefcase.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He denied any wrongdoing, while the president defended him, saying he had received a calendar and a diary.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Chinese companies are major investors in Zambia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Chinese embassy said in 2022 that more than 600 Chinese businesses had invested more than $3bn in Zambia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Mr Kakubo is the first minister forced to resign since President Hakainde Hichilema took office in August 2021.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Mr Hichilema pledged to fight corruption, but the opposition accuses him of unfairly targeting its members, which he denies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In his response to Mr Kakubo’s resignation, ex-President Edgar Lungu said he should be investigated for alleged corruption.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I am not implying that Kakubo is guilty. All I am saying is that if there are no sacred cows in Mr Hichilema’s fight against corruption, Kakubo should be investigated and if need be prosecuted…,” Mr Lungu said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zambia’s Foreign Minister Stanley Kakubo has quit after he was allegedly caught on video receiving a stack of cash from a Chinese businessman. He did not deny he was in the video. Instead, Mr Kakubo said he was facing “malicious claims over a business transaction” and had resigned so that the government was not “distracted” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10323,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":9,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"BBC","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"0","show_view_counter":"0","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"0","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"0","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"0","show_popup_post":"0","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"1"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,30],"tags":[1887,394],"class_list":["post-10322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","category-southern-africa","tag-stanley-kakubo","tag-zambia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}