By Mubanga Mubanga
Hakainde Hichilema is a good President who is being lied to by people surrounding him.
And Lusambo said the new Kabushi member of parliament (UPND) Bernard Kenengo is doomed and will be a sitting duck if he does not approach him (Lusambo) to authorise him to work with “his eight councilors in the Constituency.”
Lusambo also described how the law on proceeds of crime has tormented him, narrating one incident where he was at pains to explain to his young daughter that she could not go back to their seized Chamba Valley house when she insisted on going back home to see the impalas and peacocks.
Featuring on the Burning Issues radio programme on 5FM radio, Lusambo said President Hichilema was a good man but his advisors, something he was criticized for by one of the callers who opined that the same people were appointed by the President himself.
“People (surrounding the President) are lying to the President…That President you see is a good President,” he said, but a caller told Lusambo that the same ministers were appointed by the President, prompting the former Lusaka Province minister to say that people lie and by the time the head of state was realizing it, time was already gone.
He said this was not only unique to President Hichilema but many other heads of states in this country that have come before him, urging that he should do a reshuffle.
And Lusambo, who said that he was a born again Christian, said he was not bitter and had accepted the status quo in Kabushi, saying there were other opportunities other than being an MP, however, urged the new MP for Kabushi Kenengo to approach him, bragging that the councilors in Kabushi were his as they won as a PF package.
He therefore urged Kenengo approach him so that he could give him a go ahead to work with his councillors , claiming that there was nothing he was going to do alone.
Lusambo vowed that Kenengo would not achieve anything unless he worked with PF councilors.
“Let him come to me because he knows nothing. That’s why he got 6000 votes…He’s just a caretaker…he’s not a full time MP. He’s not carrying full mandate of people. He’s a caretaker,” Lusambo said and later added that should not be arrogant. “Those councillors in Kabushi, I control them…and he can’t go to councillors directly. He needs me to go and avail him to them.”
And asked by the interviewer what will happen should the MP not heed his call, Lusambo said: “He’s doomed. He will be a sitting duck in Kabushi
In a wide ranging interview, Lusambo was asked on assertions that he has been drained financially to the point of bankruptcy over the cases he is facing. Responding, the former Kabushi member of parliament said he was traumatized by just the mere fact that he was facing cases bordering on owning property suspected to be proceeds of crime.
He said he was traumatized when his children came back from school and told him that they heard from school that he was arrested, but that he explains situations to them and the fact that he was a politician.
Lusambo said he was at pains to explain why one of his children who wanted to go back to their seized house could not do so.
“That’s why you are seeing this grey hair Zacks, it’s not aging, it’s just the pressure,” he said.
Lusambo also described the country’s engine, Copperbelt Province, as being in the ICU because of the problems in the mining sector.
He said the Vedanta boss, Arghawal, promised during the PF administration to invest $2 billion in Konkola Copper Mines, which never came to pass, but that the same issue has resurfaced again, describing the happenings in the province as depressing to the people there.
Addressing the late distribution of fertilizer by the UPND administration, Lusambo said Zambians must expect huge mealie meal prices next year, urging the President that “there is no supplier for UPND or PF”, as it was all about effectiveness.
But one of the callers sent text that Lusambo was lying for saying he built his Chamba Valley House before he got into government, saying he even left outstanding rentals from the house he rented in the same area which belonged to the caller’s uncle.
In response, Lusambo attacked the caller saying he was a hungry soul, and that it was not him who had brought hunger in the country.
Asked if he reserved any interest of working with the UPND, Lusambo said he would have no problem doing so if the UPND give the Zambian people what they want.
“If people of Zambia will be happy with the UPND, I will work with UPND,” said Lusambo, adding that he would work with any party Zambians will be happy with. “My job as a politician is to add value to the well being of the people.”
