Maravi

Hichilema insists Rupiah wanted a cut

Hichilema insists Rupiah wanted a cut
Written by George Chellah
Saturday, May 09, 2009 4:19:07 PM

UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema yesterday challenged the government to arrest him over his statement that President Rupiah Banda (left) wanted a 'cut' from the US$ 53 million mobile hospitals deal.

Reacting to information minister Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha's statement that Hichilema must withdraw his remarks and that the statement, which borders on libel could not go unchallenged, Hichilema said he was ready for the government.

"I am more than prepared. Nobody would come for me, they must go for 12 million Zambians I am speaking on behalf of. I’m not afraid. You tell Shikapwasha, sometimes he tries to use his big body to threaten people," Hichilema said.

"Before they come for Hakainde they should go and deal with the job losses on the Copperbelt, before they come for Hakainde, they must reduce the mealie-meal prices, before they come for Hakainde they must not feed us with GMO maize. When they have done those things, they will find me waiting for them. If they attempt to come for me, let them do so because the public will be reminded of all this chain of corruption under the MMD and that will help them to be taken out of office quickly."

Hichilema said he would continue to speak on behalf of the public.

"We will not stop and for your own information, Shikapwasha has no capacity to threaten anybody, myself included. We will speak for the people. Shikapwasha must focuss on serving the people and not threatening the people. The reason why children have no jobs it's because of behaviour which is corrupt like Zamtel, behaviour which is corrupt like buying mobile hospitals," Hichilema said.

He maintained that the government was corrupt.

"I put it to the public to judge if someone occupying public office is making decisions against public interests, what should we call that? If you see somebody dishing out mealie-meal and sugar in Katete during a campaign using public resources to advance themselves getting to the presidency, what would you call that?" Hichilema asked.

"You are using public money to advance your personal cause, what do you call that? That is corruption. What we are doing is to save the people of Zambia US$ 53 million. If we don't talk about it, they are going to do it against public interest. I think that is the definition we are putting and I think we are in order to highlight issues."

Hichilema said the RP Capital Partners deal was a good example of corruption.

"Society objected the Zamtel issue and the person who came out to support Dora Siliya who was wrong and the tribunal has proved... that was the President followed by the Vice-President. Now, who are those? They represent MMD, they represent the government. So holistically, it means that you actually have a rotten team out there that is pursuing personal interests against public interests," Hichilema said.

"How will you define a President, a Vice-President who are supporting a minister who was pursuing an agenda which the public did not agree with? Is that not personal agenda? Why should Zambians pay to RP Capital Partners because of the minority interests? That is corruption, that is white-collar crime."

On defence minister George Mpombo's statement that his remarks were an assault on the President's integrity and borders on defamation, Hichilema said Mpombo was blowing hot air.

"He still believes that being a defence minister means that you can flex your muscles to scare people off. What is there to scare somebody off about? Mpombo is talking about caliber of leadership, does Mpombo understand calibre?" Hichilema asked.

"Mpombo is not qualified to talk about calibre of leadership. Mpombo was languishing there in the village so he must not talk about the calibre of leadership. They are trying to threaten people. You know, I don't understand these fellows.

"He tried to talk of privatisation, whose policy was privatisation? Was it Hakainde's? Was that not an MMD policy? Am I an MMD minister myself? The issue of privatisation was an MMD policy. Can you tell these chaps to stop threatening Zambians because we are not afraid of them."

On Wednesday, Hichilema said President Banda and his government should be blamed for the proposed procurement of mobile hospital units from China.

But Mpombo on Thursday said Hichilema's comments bordered on defamation while Lt Gen Shikapwasha advised Hichilema to substantiate or withdraw his statement.

And UPND spokesperson Charles Kakoma said the tribal sentiments made by their member of parliament for Sinazongwe Raphael Muyanda were his personal views.

"We did not even know that he was going to say those things. As a party, whereas we support freedom of speech by every member, we think that freedom is limited within the laws of this country. And our laws currently are that we should not say anything that hurt the tribal feelings of other citizens and therefore, as a party, we do not think that attacking Bembas or attacking the Church is the correct thing to do. It is not necessary. We have obviously counselled the honourable member several times. It's regrettable that he uttered those things. As a party, we would like to distance ourselves from that statement," said Kakoma.

Muyanda on Thursday accused the Catholic Church of dividing the nation, adding that they used Bemba in their English mass in one of the churches in Lusaka at the expense of the majority who did not understand the language.

Labels: CHARLES KAKOMA, CORRUPTION, HAKAINDE HICHILEMA, MOBILE HOSPITALS, RUPIAH BANDA, UPND

posted by MrK @ 3:21 PM