Maravi

We'll wait for Hakainde to fix us in 2016

We'll wait for Hakainde to fix us in 2016
By The Post
Tue 12 June 2012, 13:20 CAT

THE Post will never get into an alliance or a pact with anyone to pursue selfish interests, vanity, evil or indeed to do wrong things. A sense of justice, dignity, moral principles, self-respect, respect for others and love for our country and our people will never allow us to do that.

And it is this approach that has enabled us to survive and prosper under a very hostile political, financial and economic environment. Unlike privileged people like Hakainde Hichilema who had the opportunity to acquire many things on the cheap, we have had to pay a very high value for everything we have, including for our right to exist and still be there today.

The Post was not acquired through privatisation or the sale of some liquidation assets. We started it from scratch and with very little capitalisation. And today The Post is a big company employing many people across the width and breadth of our country and abroad.

The Post is contributing greatly to the income of government and is today one of this country's big taxpayers. In saying all this, we are not in any way trying to be like that narrow-minded gentleman who likes bragging about how rich he is and about what he owns, that rich man without money. We are merely stating facts that can be verified.

We have never asked anyone in this country or in this world to write off any of the debts of Zambian Airways. This airline still exists under receivership. Zambian Airways is not in liquidation. It is still in existence and is under the management of a receiver from Kenya appointed by the company's creditors. All matters pertaining to this airline can be addressed by the receiver and those who appointed him.

And there are no secrets, no cover-ups about what this airline did or did not do. Everything can be looked at from the receiver.

We are surprised to hear Hakainde threatening to make us pay the K14 billion Zambian Airways is said to be owing the Development Bank of Zambia when he becomes president. We don't need any threat from any president for us to pay our debts to anyone.

We have a duty to pay our debts as they fall due. If we fail, every debt contains conditions of what happens when there is failure to repay it. And commercial debts are legally enforceable. There is nothing one can do if the law requires them to pay a debt and they fail to do so, other than to face receivership and eventually liquidation.

K14 billion may sound a very huge amount to people like Hakainde. But it isn't something beyond The Post's ability to pay. The Post is a big company with a reasonable amount of assets and a steady flow of daily income. As such, The Post is in a position to service or repay an obligation in that range.

The issue here is not inability on the part of The Post to pay an obligation of K14 billion. What is in dispute is whether or not The Post has a legal obligation to pay the Development Bank of Zambia such money. As explained above, we sincerely believe The Post does not owe the Development Bank of Zambia such an obligation.

And we challenge Hakainde and his friends at the Development Bank of Zambia, including their lawyer Vincent Malambo, to put in the public domain every document in their possession that shows that The Post owes the Development Bank of Zambia K14 billion. We also challenge them to put in the public domain any document in their possession that shows that the Development Bank of Zambia had converted its loan to Zambian Airways into equity, into shares.

We sincerely believe the Development Bank of Zambia never converted its loan into equity to deserve the consideration of a share buyback by The Post. And even if the Development Bank of Zambia had managed to convert its loan into equity, we still believe that the guarantee for a buyback that was given to them was not for them to jump out when the company was in receivership.

It was for them to leave when the company was doing well and no longer needed them as shareholders. Acting otherwise would mean giving security to equity in the same way we do with debentures. We know things like these are not easy to understand for people whose minds are jaundiced by prejudice, hatred and envy like Hakainde.

This is not a frivolous argument. A dispute of this nature requires a fair and sober adjudicator. We did not get any of that in the court processes that were commenced against us. There were violations of the High Court Act in the manner the case was shifted around. And we challenged that within the Judiciary itself.

But in the end we realised that, and by its own admission, the Judiciary was not in a position to act in a just way and resolve our grievance against it. It was then when we brought the matter to the Minister of Justice. Again, this was not done behind the back of the Judiciary - we kept them, together with the Law Association of Zambia, informed about what we were doing.

We have never sought assistance from anyone, including President Michael Sata and finance minister Alexander Chikwanda, to be let off our alleged obligations to the Development Bank of Zambia or to anyone else for that matter. We have no problem with this matter being resolved by our courts.

What we had a quarrel with is the way the matter was being handled. If at the end of the day the Supreme Court says that we have to pay Development Bank of Zambia K14 billion, we will pay it. We have never made a plea to anyone to get us absolved of any legitimate liability owed by us.

However, we do appreciate that things like these are not the things people like Hakainde would like to hear. What Hakainde would love to see is us nailed to the cross. But this is wishful thinking. It won't happen that way; he is dreaming. What they can't forgive is our dignity, our independence. What they cannot forgive is that after 21 years of being fought so hard, we are still there.

As for Hakainde's threat to fix us in 2016 when he becomes president, we can only say that he will find us waiting for him and ready to be fixed by him. We have been through that route before with many politicians before him. We can only say good luck to him. And by that time everybody would have known the truth about what happened with the Zambian Airways loan to the Development Bank of Zambia.

We would like this issue to be dealt with by all those involved in the most transparent way and to let the public have access to all the information. This is the only way those who are trying to tell lies like Hakainde about this issue will dry up. If this is Hakainde's main election campaign issue, then his chances of being president in 2016 are very slim, if not nil.

Anyway, it shows great anger, bitterness, malice and envy on Hakainde's part. There is a lot we can say about Hakainde, his politics and his business life but it's not necessary, at this stage, for us to delve into that. The only thing we can say is that he needs to grow up and gain some maturity if he has to be taken seriously by the voters.

Bragging about who he is, when he is not what he is claiming to be, will not get him votes to become president of this country. Even about the money he brags about, what money does Hakainde have? Hakainde may be well-to-do, but he is not a rich man in the real sense of the word.

There are many Zambians with more money than Hakainde, but they don't go around bragging. What businesses does Hakainde own? This is why sometimes he attempts to claim businesses that are not his because he is desperate to project himself as a rich man.

And here is a rich man whose political party is sinking deeper and deeper into oblivion since he took it over. Since Hakainde became the leader of UPND, the party's performance at every election has been going down. Why? In saying this we are not in any way being malicious. We are merely stating facts as they stand.

And the fact is that since Hakainde took over UPND, the graph of its performance has been pointing downwards. These are the things Hakainde should concentrate on. Addressing these issues may win Hakainde some votes, rather than trying to concentrate on telling lies about us. If scandalising us will win him some votes, let him continue to do so.

We are not made of wax to be melted by Hakainde's wet mouth, full of lies, anger, bitterness and envy. A braggadocio of the Hakainde type cannot bring us down.

Labels: ELECTIONS, HAKAINDE HICHILEMA, THE POST, ZAMBIAN AIRWAYS

posted by MrK @ 2:01 PM