By Patson Chilemba
Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba, popularly known as GBM, says his businesses have been squeezed by President Hakainde Hichilema’s government, but that he does not depend on government contracts for his survival.
During the time he defected from the PF to UPND before defecting back to PF again, Mwamba also complained that the then president Edgar Lungu was squeezing his businesses. However, Mwamba said if he has to grade the two, he would describe Lungu as a b
etter devil.
“He never tempered with my business the way the UPND have tempered with my business. But in any case I can tell you that I don’t need their business. I can survive under any economic difficulties in this country,” Mwamba said to Daily Revelation. “And I have done it before and I will do it even today, even in future. So I don’t have to do business with the UPND government. I don’t need it … They have squeezed me but I can survive. I don’t need their contracts.”
Mwamba said he has been quiet because he has been consolidating his “business empire”, despite complaints that the economic situation was harsh.
He said he was a business and politics was a service he provided to the Zambian people, and he was managing.
“I can manage in any situation. Because I look ahead. What is happening today, I saw it two, three years ago that this is the situation. And I knew that when UPND takes over the situation will be bad because they haven’t been in the game. So they are learners so to say, they are learners,” Mwamba said. “Because of the bad terrain that’s why I thought that I should concentrate on monitoring my businesses because some people may not understand my vision businesswise. So that’s why I have actually kept quiet and decided to consolidate my business”
He said while President Hichilema promised “manna” from heaven, with some even calling him as the “Moses of Zambia”, but it has now turned out to be the opposite.
He said the high cost of living in the country has now become a rallying cry of every Zambian, poor or rich as they could not simply keep up.
“And even themselves the UPND they do not know the direction where they are going. It looks like they are stuck,” Mwamba said, saying they must consult “experts” who have been in the game for a long time, especially former president Edgar Lungu on how to manage national matters. “ECL whatever they called him has proved himself to be a savior of this country. During his tenure of office, ECL performed well. You people thought that he didn’t perform well, now he has proved to the Zambian people that he’s better than Hakainde Hichilema.”
Mwamba said while Lungu did not promise mountains, like his successor, he was a “quiet and swift operator”, claiming that farmers and businessmen were happy, including the civil servants during his reign.
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