By Staff Reporter
Immediate past Defence minister Davies Chama says President Hakainde Hichilema has been stung by the puppet term used by Kenyan Professor Patrick Lumumba in relation to the current crop of African leaders, saying the President justifies that description going by his own actions.
And Chama claimed the PF is gaining momentum because the people are realising that they were far much better than the ruling UPND.
Speaking with Daily Revelation Chama said Kenyan Pan-Africanist Professor Patrick Lumumba was spot with his assertion that Africans have successfully elected village fools into office and such fools are busy auctioning their minerals to outsiders through all sorts of tax concessions, saying that was why the President was stung to respond that he was not a puppet.
“If he is not a puppet of the west, recently the Embassies, and our acting president has written a letter in response to issues of LGBTQ. How can they fly the flags of saying gay rights are rights even in our country and they start flying the flags? Those are unconstitutional issues as far as we are concerned and those are unacceptable behavior,” Chama said. “And I think our former president, president Edgar Lungu, categorically when he was being interviewed on this subject saying if it means us going hungry we would rather go hungry, we will not accept money from countries that want to promote issues of gay relationships in our country. Because for us that is an abomination, unacceptable behavior. And if he is not a puppet of the west this government has not even come out to condemn.”
Chama continued, saying previous governments have said no to the issue of AFRICOM, but President Hichilema even posed for a photo with the American Brigadier General announcing the establishment of an AFRICOM office in the USA Embassy.
Chama said there was no way the military office said to enhance cooperation between Zambia and the United States could just be an ordinary office, saying Zambia had always cooperated with the Americans on issues to do with Defence cooperation and all the others countries, in line with the country’s standing as a Non-Aligned State.
He said the country had military attaches positioned at Zambian Embassies abroad, just like the other countries had military personnel here in Zambian at their embassies for coordination of military cooperation and military assistance.
Chama said the USA has had a military attaché in the country already, claiming that the AFRICOM office was an added military office in the USA Embassy, wondering therefore what had necessitated the creation of an extra office.
“What has been the missing link? There has never been any missing link in terms of military assistance. We have cooperated with the Americans on a lot of issues in terms of peace keeping, operations, training of our military personnel. They have always assisted us in any areas. Equally the Chinese have helped us. We have cooperated with the Chinese, we have cooperated with the Russians, with our neighboring countries,” Chama said. “So creating an extra office, because that office will come with other military personnel of given rank, and yet you already have military personnel already stationed at these embassies…so you can’t create another office. And we all know what AFRICOM is and that is why it is based in Germany. It has always been coordinated from Germany because Africa at AU (African Union) level, at SADC level, at whatever level people have said no! That is why it has remained in Germany. So why is it being brought in Zambia? So if someone says I am not a puppet of the western world, actions speak louder than words.”
Chama further said President Hichilema just formed government, with copper prices at their highest ever “and the people mining are not Zambians and you give them tax concessions.”
“Are you not under the bondage of the western powers?” he asked.
Chama said having AFRICOM was a threat to the country’s national security, especially with threats of another large scale war at global level.
He said while the President was taxing Zambians heavily, foreign investors particularly those in the mining industry were being given concessions.
“The number one investor in our economy should be a Zambian and a Zambian investor, not a foreign investor. We have been shortchanged in terms of these mining companies. They have been mining for 20 years, 30 years declaring losses. You can’t operate for 20 years, 30 years saying you are making loses and you are still operating. You can’t run a company making losses otherwise you close, two years down the line you close…and then you give them tax holidays. Then what are you doing? That’s why we came up with these mineral royalties taxes because we knew that we were being shortchanged by these companies,” said Chama. “Even when we imposed those mineral royalty taxes they did not pack and go, they continued mining and they were paying those mineral royalty taxes. They were paying. And now when they form government and because they are puppets to these western countries they give them tax concessions.”
He described as fake, pledges by the mining companies to bring in capital investment, arguing that they would start recouping and for the next 30 years they would not pay taxes, and therefore the country would benefit nothing apart from the holes the investors will leave behind on the mines.
And Chama, who is PF national chairman, claimed that the former ruling party was gaining momentum because of what he described as UPND lies, saying people have realised that they were deceived.
“The PF was far much better than this political party,” he claimed.
Asked how better they were when they allowed caderism to reign and clamped down on democracy by closing media houses in this country among other issues, Chama argued that the PF was better in all aspects, mentioning infrastructure development and other issues.
He said the examples cited in the question could not be a measure of a total sum of why the PF lost, saying they could have contributed to an extent, but the major contributor was the propaganda and the deception which was perpetuated by the UPND that they would fix what was perceived to have been wrong.
He said they have failed to deliver on employment issues and that the cost of living was actually going up, saying “nine months after they formed government they are not even mending potholes.”
“Of course what they have been very good at is issues of telling lies. That one yes, they are really going forward. In terms of lies and deception that one they are delivering. That one they can beat us. And that one yes they have beaten us in terms of propaganda and telling lies. That one they are telling I can confess,” said Chama.
