By Patson Chilemba
It’s painful to see stability in the country if you are in the opposition, says State House Media Director Clayson Hamasaka.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Hamasaka argued that the economic baseline has been set as the economy was on what he described as a runaway, but fundamentals like the exchange rate and inflation have been stabilised and there was now peace in the country.
“These are things which are annoying our colleagues and they are free to get annoyed because it’s painful to come from a situation where citizens were being hacked in the markets, bus stops whatever. But now there is this peace. It’s painful to see stability if you are in the opposition. I can assure you. So my message is that it’s painful to see stability in the country if you are in the opposition,” Hamasaka said. “So you would rather the chaos that was there continued so that maybe you can ascend to power quickly. But anyway we are encouraging her let her (FDD leader Edith Nawakwi) to continue talking. Let her go to them you know there are freedoms now, she can go and mobilise in the markets, even on radios. She can mobilise anywhere now. Even you, you know. In fact even the way you are engaging us and themselves in the past even you you would have been hacked… They used to hack journalists you know that, in their own studios you know that.”
But asked on the fact that not too long ago UPND cadres ransacked a radio station in Petauke district and beat a journalist there, Hamasaka said some bad elements, “even in your home, they take long.”
He said if something had gone wrong in the family some traits will still be there, saying there was a situation of healing.
Hamasaka said Nawakwi had the right to call for the removal of the President but within the law, saying if she thinks she can impeach President Hichilema she could use her members of parliament, which of course she does not have.
“She wants HH to go now so let her within the law, let her use her MPs or whichever MPs to remove HH within the law. That’s why I am saying let her use her MPs. Her MPs I don’t know, they could be PF MPs or whatever which MPs,” Hamasaka said. “Tell Nawakwi to tell her MPs to impeach HH.”
Hamasaka said even assuming that President Hichilema were to go today there would be no elections according to the constitution.
“So the entire government should just be dissolved, the Vice-President, ministers just dissolve, let go to go for early elections so that Nawakwi should come in?” Hamasaka wondered, saying Zambians were the ones who elected leaders.
Asked on Nawakwi’s assertions that President Hichilema was a man of contradictions and lies, including promising people that they would get part payment from their NAPSA contributions yet all that was lies, but Hamasaka said Nawakwi should go to the people and deliver that message telling them that “this is what HH has done so let us remove him.”
Asked on the claim by the President that he had ended load shedding, yet the country is expected to start experiencing six-hours of daily load shedding, Hamasaka responded: “Now you Patson where you are there, today where you are now do you have load shedding?”
But put to him that that is what the government announced, Hamasaka said: “Let us talk about things that are existing. You know where you are there, today have you been load shedded? Since you woke up have you been load shedded where you are?”
Nawakwi further charged that President Hichilema kept blaming all the wrongs on his predecessor Edgar Lungu, yet she claimed that he had no vision himself, Hamasaka wondered how one who had no acumen could employ over 30,000 teachers and 11,000 health workers and they were all on the payroll, including employing people in the defence forces.
But Nawakwi argued that President Hichilema has actually messed up the health sector after going on what she described as recruitment rampage and eating into the money the former administration had agreed with the World Bank to improve remunerations for health workers to bring them to parity with those obtaining in the region to avoid brain drain.
She claimed that as a result the World Bank had told the President to pay for the over recruited people himself, hence her argument that the President did not have the acumen and direction to guide the nation, Hamasaka said Nawakwi was playing politics and that she was allowed to do so and that no one should cripple her political agenda.
