Fri, 24 Feb 2017 09:38:24 +0000
By BENNIE MUNDANDO
UPND billionaires Hakainde Hichilema and Geoffrey Mwamba should have bailed out The Post newspaper at the time its tax evasion case came up, says Zambia Republican Party (ZRP) president Wright Musoma.
Mr Musoma said they should have done so since they had the financial muscle instead of pretending to sympathise with Fred M’membe over a predicament they could have resolved.
Commenting on what he termed as undue sympathy’ from the two opposition leaders with Mr. M’membe over his predicament, Mr. Musoma said it would have been logical if the two leaders had paid back the debt that the Post newspaper had accumulated rather than making cheap political capital out of it.
Mr. Musoma said it was wrong for the UPND leaders to accuse government of having a hand in the liquidation of the Post newspaper when it was the entity’s failure to pay tax.
“Where was Mr. Hichilema and Mr Mwamba when the Post case started? These two are well-known billionaires who should have bailed out their friend from his financial challenges at the time the issue started; but why didn’t they pay for him? The sympathy they are showing today for Mr. M’membe and his wife should have been shown a long time ago through offsetting of debt. “Whatever the two are doing is just a mockery to M’membe because they failed to help him when he needed them most. They have their money but could not help but are now siding with him and defending criminality simply because they want political mileage. Government has nothing to do with M’membe’s tax evasion,” said Mr Musoma
He said UPND risked losing the little they had by siding with people who robbed them of the money which would have been channelled to other needy sectors to improve their wellbeing.
“This is a country of laws and we will not allow a situation where a few people think they are more powerful and untouchable and have the power to do whatever they want because they have money. We will not accept this kind of behaviour from UPND because their only preoccupation is politicking,” he said.
