By Merlyn Mwanza
Socialist Party (SP) leader Dr Fred M’membe says the country has now seen a new upscaled level of ubupupu (thieving) under President Hakainde Hichilema, where people are now talking about grand corruption involving sugilite, gold and fertilizer.
And Dr M’membe said President Hichilema must stop using the police because they are not his headsmen for cattle.
Dr M’membe said police officers were not happy with his arrests as not everybody is a Judas Iscariot, saying this country will not be good for anyone, including President Hichilema if it’s not good “for all of us.”
He said intimidation has never worked against him as he has been involved in many struggles he said President Hichilema has never been in.
“I also want to remind Mr Hichilema that the blood of a Bemba warrior runs though me. So it gives me the courage. It gives me the determination. I also want to remind Mr Hichilema that the wisdom of the Lozis runs through my blood. A combination of Lozi wisdom and Bemba courage is not something Mr Hakainde can conquer. If there are people who are cowards it’s not some of us,” Dr M’membe, who was flanked by his wife Mutinta, sympathisers and Chishimba Kambwili said.
Thanking Kambwili for having made the journey from the Copperbelt to offer solidarity to him, Dr M’membe urged the opposition to put aside their differences and focus on dislodging President Hichilema from office, saying the man leading the country is destroying it.
“He’s destroying this country with tribalism that we have never seen. Very grand corruption, very high corruption that we have never seen,” Dr M’membe said. “What is happening today we never used to hear. The gold, the sugilite, fertilizer. This is a new level of corruption … Ifi ni Hakainde uletele (It’s Hakainde who has brought all this). Ubupupu ebo tatwatalamonapo mu Zambia (The kind of thieving we have never seen before in Zambia.”
He urged the President to stop abusing the police officers.
“This is not his police. They are not his headsmen for cattle … He’s coming for us but also let me tell him we are coming for you,” said Dr M’membe.
Efforts to get a reaction to Dr M’membe’s charges from people responsible for speaking on behalf of the government and the ruling party failed as their phones went unanswered.
