Hakainde pleads with 'media' not to destroy pact

Hakainde pleads with 'media' not to destroy pact
By Patson Chilemba
Sun 25 July 2010, 04:00 CAT

FILE PICTURE: Journalist covering the first PF - UPND pact anniversary
UPND president Hakainde Hichilema yesterday said he understood the frustrations those in the UPND are going through, especially with what was being written in the newspapers.

In an interview, Hichilema said the job of PF and UPND was to calm the temperature which had risen in the pact.

“That is why PF and UPND came together. It is not driving the agenda of Hakainde. It is not the Bantustans you people talk about there. No, far from it…sometimes we shall make mistakes, but it doesn’t mean when we make mistakes we must be shot dead by the citizens or by the media. We will make mistakes,” Hichilema said.

“And I can assure you we shall work towards resolving those mistakes. Rather than shooting us down and calling us names, Bantustans, whatever staff…and we must also learn something, nobody controls other people, nobody can beat down people. It doesn’t work like that.”

Hichilema appealed to the UPND members to remain focussed, saying he understood they were unhappy but their unhappiness must not be equated to supporting the MMD candidate in Chifubu.

“But we also want to underscore the message that in the pact we want to make sure we all behave ourselves properly for the good of the people of Zambia, and nobody should beat down other people, and I mean nobody. Not the media, and repeat that, not the media, not ourselves towards each other. We need to act in a civil way,” Hichilema said.

“There is no point using access to the media to go and tell half truths so that the media can beat down Hakainde. After killing Hakainde you realise I was innocent.”

Reminded that Patriotic Front (PF) president Michael Sata reacted based on the statement he issued when he returned from the United States of America that he was the best candidate because he was young, Hichilema asked this author not to be biased.

“Patson, don’t be biased you are a reporter. I told you that I am not responding to that matter because if you say that, was I not called an under-five? Didn’t you write it in your paper?” Hichilema asked.

Reminded that that statement was issued before the PF and UPND got into a pact, Hichilema responded: “Don’t be biased please. I have said to you that I am not responding in the newspaper on that matter. We will discus through our normal structure. So don’t drive me into that direction, please, I am pleading with you.

I have given you a clear position…that is where you want to drag me, but I refuse to be dragged there Patson, please. It won’t help you to be biased and use you media to beat down Hakanide.”

Asked on Sata’s statement that he had not gone round the country denouncing him, but he Hichilema had done so, Hichilema responded: “Patson you are driving me to answer my colleague in the media.”

Reminded that the earlier statement he issued about being young was also through the media, Hichilema responded: “Why didn’t you ask me at that time? You were there at the Airport. Your members were there, why didn’t you ask me?

But you see what you are trying to do. Patson, let’s be reasonable to each other. You must listen. You are a media person. You don’t control Hakainde. You must understand that, you must realise that. It is important that you must respect my response to you that I will not deal with that issue in the media…

“You gave me a call, I said on that matter I will not respond in the media because we have established channels to do that. So you are refusing to take that answer so that you can write an answer you want to write.”

But this author told Hichilema that he was just doing his duty of asking questions on behalf of the nation.

In response, Hichilema said: “But you also have a duty to respect Hakainde’s views. Even if you don’t like Hakainde, but you have an obligation to respect Hakainde.”
This author told Hachilema that he respected his views, but should also respect his questioning.

But Hichilema insisted that he might not be liked but that his views should be respected.
This author told Hichilema that The Post did not hate him.

The author tried to clear the air by telling Hichilema that he had simply asked him to respond because his earlier statement was equally carried in the media.
Hichilema responded.

“But because you have a biased position which everybody knows right? And it won’t help you to drag me into that direction so that you can then end up with a conclusion which you already designed,” Hichilema said. “It is not an accusation, I am telling you.”
This author said The Post did not operate like that.

Hichilema responded: “I am saying you, I didn’t say how The Post operates, you.”
This journalist told Hichilema that accusing him of being biased was not part of the story.

This journalist also asked Hichilema if there was anything wrong in being asked questions.

But Hichilema just asked this reporter to take his answer:
“That is why I am answering you. I am answering because I respect your views, but I want you to take my answer,” he said.

Hichilema said he had taken note of the issues Sata raised but that they would be addressed through the right channels.

He said the pact must focus on the bigger picture, saying nobody went into it expecting that it would be a bed of roses.

Hichilema said he knew some people did not like the usage of the phrase focussing on the bigger picture.

He said the country did not need a fragmented opposition, and repeated that there was no option to the pact.

Hichilema said the issue of PF or UPND going it alone would not work.
He said to get Independence the country needed UNIP and ANC to come together.
“Only somebody who wants to deny history for their won personal or biased positions will push or work against that agenda,” Hichilema said.

He said the established channels through the PF-UPND pact would be the best way of resolving the issues Sata had raised.

“Because if I told you other things that you are not aware of as Patson, and as The post, sometimes you would write a story based on the views you are given by one partner in the pact. Invest time to find out the correct position.

I mean it is like this issue of Chadiza and Kaoma if we told you that the working group did not meet, some people will argue. If the working group met we would have resolved those problems,” Hichilema said. “But we don’t want to come to you and wash dirty linen in public.”

He said earlier when he raised the issue that the working group did not meet, people thought he was bluffing and called him all sorts of names.

“I don’t mind people rubbishing me because they have half truths. But I want people to appreciate that there are always two sides of the coin,” Hichilema said.

Asked on the assertions that the pact’s failure to announce the presidential candidate was one of the issues causing problems, Hichilema disagreed with the assertions.
“How can you choose a president if you haven’t even agreed on the guidelines of how you will chose a president?” he asked.

Hichilema said the issue on who becomes president was one of his least worries.
“The reason I came into politics was not to become a president but to save the people of Zambia. So we need an economic and social programme first,” he said.

On assertions that some of his members of parliament wanted a pact between the MMD and UPND, Hichilema said that was not new.
He said in any grouping there were people who may think different from the majority.
Hichilema said he would not be surprised that there were people like that in UPND.
“On those Mps you are talking about.

We will always have people like that, not just MPS, but also councillors, also the general members. They will be there. Can you answer my question why are there rebels in PF, many of them? Why don’t we discuss about that also? Meaning, running and managing people is difficult… some people will take personal interests above general interests,” he said.

Hichilema said if anybody wanted to break the pact on account of what happened in Kaoma and Chadiza then they were not sincere.

On the challenges on the Copperbelt, Hichilema said he had already given directives through the provincial party chairperson.

“If all goes well he is appearing at a rally with the campaign manger for the PF in Chifubu to indicate the pact position,” said Hichilema.
On Thursday, Sata demanded sincerity in the pact.

He said numerically, PF was the second-largest political party in Zambia, while UPND was the third.

Sata remarks came in the wake of assertions by the UPND on the Copperbelt that the PF seemed to have little respect for UPND president Hakainde Hichilema and treated UPND like a junior partner.

The PF-UPND pact has gone against its agreement not to compete against each other in any election by fielding separate candidates in Chadiza and Kaoma for the forthcoming by-election on August 5, 2010.