Maravi

Injury Rupiah has caused Lambas is too deep – HH

Injury Rupiah has caused Lambas is too deep – HH
By Patson Chilemba
Sat 09 Jan. 2010, 04:01 CAT

UPND president Hakainde Hichilema yesterday charged that the injury President Rupiah Banda has caused the Lambas is too deep and will not be healed by his desperate appointment of Gladys Lundwe as lands minister.

And former science and technology minister Gabriel Namulambe has reiterated that there was no tribal element in the statement he made that Lambas were frustrated and injured over attacks on president Levy Mwanawasa's legacy.

Commenting on President Banda's appointment of Masaiti MMD member of parliament Lundwe, who originates from the Lambaland, Hichilema said President Banda was panic reacting because of the injury he had caused in the Lambaland.

“No, that Lundwe's appointment is not genuine. He is panic reacting. The appointment of Gladys is really an act of panic because he knows he has caused enough heartache in that area, and obviously he fires Namulambe and try to play around by bringing in Lundwe, thinking that will heal the wound,” Hichilema said.

“The wound he cut is too deep, too painful to the local people. The local people know that Rupiah Banda abused Levy Mwanawasa's name so that they could vote for him. And after voting for him, he is basically exerting excessive abuse to them.”

Hichilema said the Levy Mwanawasa legacy President Banda used to come to power and later abused would haunt him always.

“And the issue is very clear, it is not that he believes Gladys can deliver, and I have got nothing against Gladys… it's because he believes that he can pacify the Lamba people,” said Hichilema. “That is not how you provide leadership. He has not solved the problem, the problem lingers on, and it will haunt him.”

And commenting on his suspension from the national executive committee (NEC) by the MMD secretariat, Namulambe said he was sure that the nation was judging what they were seeing over his suspension.

“I am sure the nation is seeing and judging, and I think even my statement, I don't know if there was any tribal elements in it,” he said.

Namulambe said he would issue a comprehensive statement once he received the suspension letter from the secretariat.

However, he said no one had called him to exculpate himself before the decision was made to suspend him.

Addressing the press on Wednesday, MMD national secretary Katele Kalumba said Namulambe had been suspended following what he termed as divisive tribal utterances by the latter.

Labels: GABRIEL NAMULAMBE, HAKAINDE HICHILEMA, RUPIAH BANDA, TRIBALISM

posted by MrK @ 2:39 PM