Maravi

kunda is a cheat, weird fellow – HH

kunda is a cheat, weird fellow – HH
By George Chellah and Fridah Zinyama
Sat 02 Jan. 2010, 04:00 CAT

UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema yesterday described Vice-President George Kunda as a cheat and spineless weird fellow. But Vice-President Kunda on Thursday said it was surprising that some people cry when the government responds to what was being written about it.

Meanwhile, Hichilema said Vice-President Kunda is trying to work with Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Chalwe Mchenga to mislead the nation. In an interview, Hichilema said Vice-President Kunda overrates himself.

“He overrates himself because if you look at George, who can he scare anyway? Yes, he tries to do that but it’s a misplaced effort for some of us…” laughed Hichilema.

“But of course, he tries to be bullish maybe to cover up for his lack of character. He hasn’t got a character. I think it’s misplaced effort because he can’t scare anybody especially somebody who has a spine, he may scare a few people.”

Hichilema said Zambians must know that they don’t have a quality Vice-President.

“They Zambians have an inconsistent Vice-President. They have a Vice-President who tries to be a bully. They just should ignore him because it’s an act of desperation,” he said.

Hichilema said Vice-President Kunda was trying to work with Mchenga to mislead the nation.

“I am concerned about George and Mchenga and the whole lot of them misleading Zambians. We are concerned about Zambians not really much about them. So George really should not even try to intimidate people, he hasn’t got the stature, he hasn’t got the character, he hasn’t got a personality to do that,” Hichilema said.

“So he tries to make up that by being a cheat, by being inconsistent working against Levy Mwanawasa. If there is anything that I am unhappy about George, he was the one propagating the anti-corruption fight working with Mwanawasa.

Immediately Mwanawasa died, - you know… this guy has no character he has no spine - he shifted and he is now perpetuating and making corruption look normal, especially corruption perpetuated at the top. He is trying to be legalistic around that.”

Hichilema said Vice-President Kunda has lost direction.

“It is well known, I have said before that Kunda has lowered the office of the Vice-President and we need to raise this. Come 2011 we need to put qualitative people in that office,” Hichilema said.

He said Vice-President Kunda was cheating the late Mwanawasa that he really believed in the corruption fight.

“Kunda has walked away from that fight because Levy is no longer there. You know if you are a true African, you even protect your friends when they are no more. But George has basically walked away from Levy Mwanawasa especially on the fight against corruption,” Hichilema said.

“He is the one who pushed the London cases but he has failed to register the London judgment. He does not want to register the judgment because he is a ‘convenient man.’ I call Kunda a ‘convenient man’. He is a man who really looks around for what is convenient for him so he has got no principles.”

Hichilema said Vice-President Kunda’s push to regulate the media was another area where he had completely lowered the office of the Vice-President.

“We UPND would like to see the media regulate itself, self-regulation. And Kunda has been pushing his weird…Kunda is actually a weird fellow if you just...have looked at how he is behaving, he is a weird fellow pushing that regulation of the media,” Hichilema said.

“Another angle is where he has been misleading Rupiah Banda, although I am not surprised because it’s two blind men leading each other, anyway.”

And Vice-President Kunda, during the commissioning of an elevator at the Ministry of Justice in Lusaka on Thursday, said some people were hurt by what he had said when he appeared on Radio Phoenix in defence of government over certain comments which had been spoken or written about the government.

Vice-President Kunda said some media organisations had written a lot of negative stuff about the government and President Banda, which necessitated the need for the government to respond and defend itself.

“If you see the volume of editorials which are written about us...Mike Mulongoti, me and President Banda, it is absurd that people should start crying when government defends itself,” Vice-President Kunda said. “If you are made of jelly, don’t write about others.”

Vice-President Kunda further said the media bill which the media bodies were talking about was common knowledge.

“Government has also prepared its own bill, whilst the media was given time to come up with their own submissions towards self regulation,” he said. “I don’t know why the media is agitated when we have had fruitful meetings with them on what should be done.”

Vice-President Kunda said the media had been given six months within which to come up with a blueprint and submit to the government for scrutiny.

“Government also prepared its own bill for its own use and the media bodies also proceeded on their own measures so that we can come together and chart the way forward,” he said.

Vice-President Kunda said the bill which the government had come up with was still classified and marked secret.

“We are calling on the media to dialogue with us on this bill,” he said. “This is not the first time we are drafting one, we have come up with different pieces of legislation for different professionals like lawyers, engineers and accountants.”

Vice-President Kunda said if the media felt that what government had developed was not to their liking, they should meet with them and dialogue about areas which they were not happy with.

“I am a great friend of the media and would like to see a media profession which is responsible and which the public can respect,” he said.

“It is within government’s rights to prepare a media bill…I have seen what they have prepared and if they convince us we will see if we can come up with something which will work for the media. Government will perform its function as a legislator.”

And Vice-President Kunda said the media should not think that they will accomplish anything by holding demonstrations.

“The media is fighting over nothing,” he said. “There is no need to demonstrate and cause panic. Let’s sit down together and dialogue.”

And Vice-President Kunda called for reconciliation and forgiveness in 2010.

“Let’s not chase things which are not there,” said Vice-President Kunda.

Labels: GEORGE KUNDA, HAKAINDE HICHILEMA

posted by MrK @ 11:34 AM