By Merlyn Mwanza
I speak Bemba and nobody complains but I speak Tonga people complain, says President Hakainde Hichilema.
And President Hichilema told journalists to see him in private on some hot topic questions he was asked during the press conference, despite the very event having been earmarked for him to answer the tough questions to the public through the media.
President Hichilema also did not rule out meeting former KCM liquidator Milingo Lungu over being briefed on KCM, but that people should focus on the substance that he and his juniors did not meet Lungu to offer him immunity from prosecution.
Addressing the media at State House today, President Hichilema described the people who complained when he spoke Tonga and Lozi, but did not complain when he spoke Bemba, as having a skewed hatred.
He described his fellow tribesmen Raphael Nakachinda as a lunatic who was dividing the country over his recent comments against the people of Bweengwa as having brought stupidity to State House.
“I speak Bemba nobody complains. I speak Tonga people complain. I speak Lozi people complain,” President Hichilema said, describing such people as having a skewed hatred.
He said this country was not about Tongas or Bembas or any other tribe for that matter, saying one’s ethnicity should not be included in the fight against corruption.
On corruption, President Hichilema said he understood those who were saying that things were not moving fast on the corruption front, saying thieves were difficult, highlighting how a neighboring country has recovered $13 billion from its own thieves as having gone to the extent of simply putting them behind bars for 90 days and only have them freed when they were ready to engage and talk.
“Is that the route we want to go? We should debate that…may be lock them up for six months and they will talk,” President Hichilema said, before saying that that would infringe on peoples rights and therefore a middle ground had to be found.
He said unlike when he was incarcerated for 127 days, now those who were being arrested were being offered immediate bails on matters that were bondable, including PF acting president Given Lubinda who did not give him bond when he was incarcerated.
President Hichilema said “you must praise God that a decent President was in office” because it would be bad if the UPND had treated the PF in the same manner they treated the MMD after taking over from them in 2011.
He said he was not even allowed to pay his last respects to founding father Dr Kenneth Kaunda, but he invited the same former president Edgar Lungu and sat with him during the funeral of late former president Rupiah, but Lungu started saying nasty things, in apparent reference to Lungu’s attack on him that he was a hypocrite who said one thing and did the exact opposite.
He anyone who offered Milingo any immunity they were on their own.
On the economy, President Hichilema said the former administration ransacked the country’s treasury but the new administration was plugging the holes and that was why the country has not defaulted.
He said those in the former administration gave themselves “$12-13 billion contracts on feeder roads” and as much as 20 percent down payments for the works not done.
The President said now the same people were even writing to government demanding to be paid, but he had told them that he could not pay for theft saying they should show proof of the work they have done.
He said he engaged China himself and his officials and was happy to report that they were joining the framework to resolve the debt crisis.
President Hichilema said his critics may not like him but they should respect what the government was doing, challenging people to compare the last eight months of the PF administration with the first eight months of the UPND administration.
“What are you going to come back to government to do?” President Hichilema asked those in the PF, and adding that it was not easy to do what the UPND administration was doing but they were determined to achieve results.
He said that the Kwacha and the inflation rate were stabilizing was not by chance, describing even the 41,200 jobs created in the public sector as not being good enough as more jobs must in through the private sector.
He said the government was unlocking mining companies KCM and Mopani.
President Hichilema said issues of the high cost of living were being worsened by the ongoing war in Ukraine through increased costs in fuel and fertilizer, which could be true, but fuel prices in Zambia started going up before the Ukraine crisis, and the price of fertilizer had not been reduced then despite promises to the contrary during the campaigns.
He said to alleviate the problem, the government was engaged in bilateral talks with countries who produce the commodities, and the nation would be informed in due course.
President Hichilema claimed that the cost of fuel, which has increased by K9 in the last nine month the UPND has been in office, has increased less in Zambia than in other countries.
He said he had told those in cabinet that they were not on a honeymoon, saying “we were thrown by the people of Zambia at the deep end of the ocean…we have to swim.” He claimed that the UPND government was better placed than the previous government or any other to address the problems the country was going through.
“You want to try dununa reverse again? It’s your decision,” President Hichilema said.
On the status of KCM and Mopani, the President said the latter was easier to unlock but the former was more complicated because of the appointment of the liquidator, saying the government was also pulling First Quantum in the work stream as government has to unlock the $1.5 billion investment.
Diamond TV -one of the organizations who asked sensible and probing questions as opposed to some mediocre questions asked by some selected media personnels – asked to get the President’s position over the leaked audio involving Home Affairs permanent secretary Josephs Akafumba and his political advisor Levy Ngoma where they were purportedly conspiring against the Democratic Party (DP), and also his views on the cyber security law which he opposed while in opposition.
In response, President Hichilema meandered through the question, sounding more like urging the public against reading too much into social media stories, before ultimately telling the journalist to ask him the question in privacy over issues to do with his position on the laws.
On the DPP, President Hichilema said only the law will touch her, and defended the right to speak of UPND members who are calling for her to step aside in the same manner the others are saying that she should not be touched.
On the fact that he has continued as IDC chairman and what that institution could do to increase the share in strategic industries, President Hichilema said he did not create the institution, saying nobody questioned the former president on why he was chairman of the IDC.
He said there were a lot of things he did not agree with, but until the law was changed he will have to do some of the things he does not like.
He said he and his juniors have never met Milingo to offer him immunity from prosecution and that it was not in the DPP’s power to do that, but he did not outrightly say he had never met Milingo over other matters like being briefed on the KCM issue.
On embattled Kabushi member of parliament Bowman Lusambo, whose properties have been seized by the investigative wings, President Hichilema said not too long ago he was just a “die-hard” and could not even afford an economy ticket on an aeroplane but today he had properties, saying he must justify where he got his wealth from.
President Hichilema also announced during the same occasion that DRC President would be visiting the country.
However, the President did not answer the question over the recent strong statement from Rwandese President Paul Kagame, fresh from visiting Zambia, came out strongly against leaders who were in the habit of giving concessions to foreign investors.
