Tue, 02 Jan 2018 09:53:40 +0000
By ANNIE ZULU
IT is an affront and unacceptable temerity for senior UPND leader Gary Nkombo to suggest that President Edgar Lungu had something to do with carrying of Mukula logs intercepted by UPND cadres in Shimabala.
“This is not politics, it is impudence and irreverence.”
And former UPND presidential advisor Edward Mumbi has now called on Zambians to condemn the level of immaturity and unruly conduct by UPND, which was beneath political decorum and propriety. He said it was unacceptable and ridiculous for Mr Nkombo to accuse the President of being the owner of the intercepted trucks when ZAFFICO publicly claimed the trucks.
The UPND Mazabuka Central lawmaker claimed at a press briefing on Sunday that he was sure that President Lungu had a hand in the trucks laden with logs from the Mukula tree which were intercepted by suspected UPND and PF cadres last Friday.
However, Zambia Forest and Forestry Industry Corporation Limited (ZAFFICO) Managing Director Frighton Sichone has confirmed that the consignment belonged to ZAFFICO.
Mr Mumbi told the Daily Nation in an interview yesterday that the remarks by Mr Nkombo was a direct insult on the President which should not be tolerated.
He has since challenged Mr Nkombo to produce proof by way of documentation that the logs belonged to the President as he claimed. “Gary Nkombo’s remarks is total disrespect of the President and his personal self as a citizen. It was clarified By ZAFFICO Managing Director Mr Sichone that the logs belonged to ZAFFICO, so how does he bring in the President in a situation that is very clear?
“I challenge Mr Nkombo if he is a decent Zambian to show proof that those logs belong to the President, because as far as we know those logs have been claimed by ZAFFICO and it is not right for him and UPND to continue abusing the President.
“You don’t go and accuse an innocent person who you have no evidence that he’s involved in a situation as clear as this one where things have been claimed,” Mr Mumbi said.
Mr Mumbi advised the UPND to desist from what he termed as “politics of hatred” if the party was to maintain its relevance.
He said the party had no direction and slowly becoming unpopular because they had reduced themselves to President Lungu’s haters.
