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I will not argue with Ng'uni - HH

I will not argue with Ng'uni - HH
By Chibaula Silwamba
Saturday July 21, 2007 [04:00]

UPND president Hakainde Hichilema has said he will not waste his time arguing with ZCID spokesperson Newton Ng’uni because the FDD national secretary spends most of his time arguing. But Ng’uni demanded that Hichilema apologise to him for saying that he had issued a press statement that was not approved by all political parties in the Zambia Centre for Inter-Party Dialogue (ZCID).

Reacting to Ng’uni’s letter to him dated July 19, 2007 demanding an apology within 24 hours, Hichilema yesterday said Ng’uni had been exposed for releasing a press statement that was not approved by all political parties in the ZCID.

“Arguing with Ng’uni is waste of time. He spends most of the time arguing. My spokesperson will deal with him,” Hichilema said.

“If he insists that the statement was approved then he should show me a document signed by Mr Tiens Kahenya and Mr Winston Chibwe. The professional way of doing things is that all parties should sign on the document. Let him show me where Mr Kahenya and Mr Chibwe signed,” insisted Hichilema.

He said he could not apologise to Ng’uni.

“Apologise for what? Apologise to who?” he asked. “Instead Ng’uni should apologise to his own conscience for issuing that statement. He must be ashamed that he issued a statement that was not approved. He has now been exposed.”

He said he had more important issues to do than argue with Ng’uni.

“He can make noise as much as he wants but my position is the same,” said Hichilema.
Hichilema’s vice, Richard Kapita said he would be surprised if Hichilema apologises to Ng’uni.

“The president is right. It will be his choice to apologise or not but I will be very surprised if he apologised,” said Kapita.

Kahenya, who is UPND secretary general, declined to comment saying he did not want to add salt to an ‘injury’.

But Ng’uni, who is FDD national secretary, in a letter to Hichilema, stated that Hichilema and the UPND were accusing him of doing things he never did.

He stated that despite Hichilema having the capacity to find out the truth about what was happening in the ZCID, he and the UPND had continued to issue statements in which they accused him of things he did not even do.

Ng’uni warned that should Hichilema fail to apologise, he would respond in a manner that reflects the truth and corrects the record.

“I expect that you will issue the apology within 24 hours, failure to which I will assume that the false accusations made against me were done deliberately to injure my character. I hope you will find it within your personal dignity to reflect the truth on the statement in question,” Ng’uni stated. “As you know, sir, I’m not responsible for briefing you on the activities of ZCID. Therefore you cannot hold me responsible for the omissions of those who are tasked to brief you.

I’m sure that your representatives Messrs Tiens Kahenya and Winston Chibwe (UPND deputy secretary general) have availed you all the documents that ZCID has hitherto issued and you have had the opportunity to familiarize yourself with the contents therein. In particular, statement that was prepared on 8th July 2007 for public information on the ZCID roadmap.”

Ng’uni claimed that the UPND national management committee (NMC) had condemned him for having issued a statement on MUVI Television contrary to the ZCID position, but he had never appeared on MUVI Television.

On Thursday, Hichilema said Ng’uni’s statement that political party presidents had agreed on a roadmap on the constitution making process was not correct.

Hichilema said the presidents did not agree on any road map but that the constitution would be adopted although a constitutional conference.

Labels: HAKAINDE HICHILEMA, UPND, ZCID

posted by MrK @ 3:23 AM