Africa-Press – Zambia. I THINK that politics in Zambia in terms of mobilisation has never been this easy because UPND are campaigning themselves out of office, says FDD leader Edith Nawakwi.
She says President Hakainde Hichilema is extremely insecure, angry and he doesn’t want any shred of competition and doesn’t want to be advised. Featuring on Hot FM’s Hot seat programme on Thursday, Nawakwi charged that there is leadership poverty in the country. She also said it is wrong for President Hichilema not to declare his assets “when in fact he is amassing.”
“He (President Hakainde Hichilema) has not declared his assets so we don’t know what he holds. We don’t know what his wife has. Now for him, it’s okay. He thinks it’s okay not to declare his assets but for his friend, if in fact you are a president and you travel, someone donates a K200 you can’t buy a house. Look we are in the opposition. How are we campaigning? We are campaigning by donations. I drive a VX, you think I could afford just to go to a shop floor and buy a VX,’’ she said. ‘’In this country, there is no law in any book that requires a political leader to declare the source of funding for a political party. Therefore, it is wrong for Hakainde not to declare his assets when in fact he is amassing. For me I say that the only reason he has refused to move from Community House is maybe he’s doing deals which he doesn’t want the state to see. The presidency has a certain system. In the presidential system you have people who keep diaries, people who keep documents. Now in your own house and bedroom how are state security assets being preserved? You see the President coming to work at 10:00. Is he working at his house? I mean we don’t know his routine because sometimes you are near this area you see him driving to work at 11:00. I think that we are paying for a no-show President, honestly. And it’s most unfortunate. What is it that he’s hiding which we don’t know? He has not declared his assets; he’s in his private house. He is travelling repeatedly. Is he doing transactions? Because it doesn’t tell us what he has to come up with. Is he doing transactions which are personal to his business? We don’t know.”
Nawakwi said Zambians are paying for a “no show” President who is rarely in the country. “Have you ever seen any agreement and let alone the Vedanta agreement or whatever he has signed? We don’t know and honestly speaking, it’s the Secretary to Cabinet and their staff within State House who are the custodians of state assets. When I’m talking state assets, I’m talking about secrets. So you cannot keep secrets of the state in your bedroom. It’s an anathema. I mean are you telling me American presidents don’t have a better accommodation, they move to White House? Are you telling me that all these presidents who have lived, six of them, they didn’t have accommodation where they could stay,’’ Nawakwi wondered. ‘’Are you telling me that you are so important that your assets are a secret but he must follow me for owning an axe and say these are proceeds of crime? They follow you for even a car used in 2016. They are so petty but for them we don’t see them following up anyone else. They’re just following the opposition. So they have put the former president [Edgar Lungu] in a situation which requires that he comes back and addresses hunger. Addresses the looting which is going on in, now which is worse than under PF. And I have said repeatedly that this government will be the most corrupt government that this republic has ever
seen because they are not transparent. They’re just translucent. They do things behind our backs. We don’t know what they’re doing.”
And Nawakwi said the Pheluna Hatembo case is an embarrassment on President Hichilema. “The insecurity in the President and the fear of competition… That kind of fear, insecurity is a worry. And this so-called Pheluna [Hatembo]
case is an embarrassment to the President himself. But this Pheluna issue is squarely on his head. He’s the one who abducted those people. He is the one who is sitting on farm 1924 and the other farms belonging to the late brothers, the Hambwalulas and the Hatembos. And these were assets mortgaged to Lima Bank,’’ she said further. ‘’They want to create a situation where all possible presidential candidates have court cases so when campaign comes you will hear that you are in Kabwe, you are in Ndola, you are at Chikwa Court.” Nawakwi said UPND wants to think that they are the only party that are entitled to the country.
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