By Isaac Zulu
Patriot Front national chairman Davies Chama has charged that President Hakainde Hichilema’s directive to Secretary to Cabinet to sell Minister’s luxury VX vehicles is not about financial prudence, but about his pride and ego.
In an interview, Chama, who is also former defence minister, has said that President Hakainde Hichilema should learn to “think through what he intends to say before making certain decisions and pronouncements.”
He said that, while in opposition, the Head of State made a lot of political pronouncements and commitments, which he said President Hichilema is now regretting and feeling guilty about.
“They made a decision to do away with the Ministerial vehicles that we left, which were in good condition without consulting technocrats; permanent secretaries, ministers and other independent people. But the man thinks everything is centred on him and that is why he has been making such decisions and directives. He had made political pronouncements when in opposition, but those statements have not been actualised,” Chama said. “And because of that, he is guilty and wants to create a picture that he is committed to financial prudence. That directive from President Hakainde Hichilema is about his pride and ego. If that is not about his ego, he should not retain the Presidential vehicles that were procured for him upon assuming office, but also ensure that the luxury VX vehicles for the Presidency are sold. Unfortunately, everything that he does is centred on him.”
Chama said that even if the Ministerial vehicles were to be sold, government would not get 100 per cent from such an arrangement.
“If those vehicles were fetching $400,000 at the time of procurement, today they cannot be sold at the same price, but would be sold at $250,000 or $300,000. And that is why I am saying that government will not get 100 per cent from that transaction,” Chama said. “And they should know that the terrain in this country, like in North Western Province where I was a few weeks ago, the terrain requires the use of vehicles that are economical in terms of fuel consumption, vehicle maintenance and so on; you require the usage of vehicles that would not have challenges navigating through such areas. Therefore, I don’t know how Ministers would be traveling in certain areas with Toyota Spacios. In terms of practicability, I don’t know how they will ensure that there’s efficiency in government implementstion of projects. The President should stop going to the political rally and, out of excitement, start making careless and unresearched statements pronouncements.”
He advised the Head of State to seek advice on governance issues from opposition political party leaders and other stakeholders, as opposed to making unpopular decisions.
“My advice to President Hakainde Hichilema, that is if he takes advice, is that he should bounce off everything that he wants to do with technocrats, leaders of opposition political parties and other stakeholders before making careless and unresearched statements,” said Chama. “He should not think that running government is like running an audit firm where you are presented with a document or a report in an office, then you just edit the document. As patriots, we are criticising the President when we notice that he is taking a wrong route so that when leaves office in 2026 we won’t have difficulties to repair the damage that he is causing to this country. As nationalists, we feel duty bound to offer checks and balances to the current government because when the President destroys the country in the manner he is doing, we all get affected.”
