By Isaac Zulu
Central Province permanent secretary Milner Mwanakampwe engaged in sharp disagreements with a caller who reminded him over the promises UPND has failed to fulfil, telling the caller that the UPND administration is still cleaning the poop he and the PF administration left.
And Mwanakampwe when contacted for comment by Daily Revelation said Africans in general and Zambians in particular must [pp-logged-users] understand his tulepipa amafi mwanyele remarks.
Featuring on Cloud FM radio, Mwanakampwe, in a Bemba dialect, said that development cannot be delivered overnight, like some teeth in a baby.
A caller by the name of Chalwe Kaume called in and told the permanent secretary that the cost of living is high, such that the prevailing economic situation could not allow his family to have dinner the previous night, opting to save the little food for breakfast the next day instead.
Kaume told Mwanakampwe that he was saying that development does not grow overnight like baby teeth, yet his own President and party promised Zambians that once elected, the Kwacha would appreciate against the Dollar overnight, and that people will be buying 15kg bags of mealie meal at K50 and fuel at less than K13 per liter.
“Nomba ba PS, mulelanda ati tafisa nga ameno ya mukanwa. Teimwe mwalelaya. (PS, you are now saying that these things do not come out overnight like teeth). Are you not the ones who were promising)?” Kaume asked.
But before the caller could finish with his question, Mwanakampwe interjected and told him that he and the previous regime left “poop” which he said the UPND government is now cleaning.
“Ba Chalwe, the problem you have is mwanya, after mwanya tulepipa amafi eyo mwanyele and then you want us to (Mr Chalwe, that’s the problem you have. You poop and we are now cleaning your poop),” Mwanakampwe retorted, with he and the caller speaking over each other in heightened voices.
“E problem mwakwata PS, musalula uyo (That is the problem you have PS. That is insulting),” Chalwe shouted back.
“I want him to understand me because,” Mwanakampwe said over the interjection from the interviewer that he was using strong language.
“No, these guys understand strong language. Any other sober language (they won’t understand),” Mwanakampwe continued as the interviewer interjected him with a track.
When reached for comment by Daily Revelation, the Central Province permanent secretary defended his remarks, saying those are just idioms.
Mwanakampwe explained that the issue he raised while on radio has been blown out of proportion, by individuals that want to take advantage of the idioms he used while featuring on Cloud FM radio.
“It’s a situation where people want to take advantage of every single thing that we say and take it the way they want to spin it. So for me I think it’s an idiom and I can end there,” he said.
Asked on the aspect that while he says it was an idiom, his saying has angered other people, Mwanakampwe responded: “While! Unless people are not Africans. But if they are Africans an idiom still remains what it is. You can’t change what it is.”[/pp-logged-users]
