Shut up, ‘doomsayer’ Chellah told

Wed, 21 Jun 2017 10:40:10 +0000

By BENNIE MUNDANDO

IT IS unfortunate that a person of George Chellah’s calibre can sink so low as to join a horde of doomsayers chorusing lies that Zambia is in a crisis because we expected him to understand governance issues better after serving as press aid to Michael Sata, the ZRP has charged.

ZRP president Wright Musoma yesterday told the Daily Nation that it was unfortunate that Mr. Chellah had decided to jump on the bandwagon of individuals who were tarnishing the image of the country to the outside world by issuing alarming statements devoid of truth.

Two days ago, Mr. Chellah issued a statement in which he maintained that Zambia was facing a crisis, saying it would be “highly clumsy and politically, economically and socially suicidal for citizens to linger on with pretence that things were ok when not”. He claimed it was no longer in doubt that Zambia was severely polarized, and that as a consequence the political temperature was rising.

He charged that the bitter truth about Zambia’s current state of affairs was that the country was at a point where the parties responsible for the situation ought to put the country first and realise that “Zambians had tempted fate too far and that it was time to bury the hatchet”.

“It’s no longer doubtful that our country is severely polarized, and as a consequence the political temperature is high too. So, it would be highly clumsy and politically, economically and socially suicidal for us to linger on with pretence like its ‘business as usual’, yet the reality is that of ‘business than the usual’.

“The bitter truth about our current state of affairs is that we are at a point where the parties responsible for this situation ought to put the country first and realise that we have tempted fate too far and its time we buried the hatchet and discussed our differences flexibly,” Mr. Chellah said.

Mr. Musoma said as former press aid, he expected Mr. Chellah to speak from an informed position because he understood issues of governance better than those who were heralding the message of an imaginary crisis.

“My advice to Mr. Chellah is that he should just shut up if he has nothing to say unlike joining a bandwagon of people who are talking about things they do not understand.

‘‘We expected Mr. Chellah to be aloof in his articulation of national issues especially that he was press aid for Mr. Sata but we are surprised that he has allowed himself to sink so low as to make such a statement which is not a reflection of what is happening in Zambia.

“If there was a crisis in this country or if Zambia had slid into a dictatorship, he would not have been issuing such careless statements without being caged. He knows better what is happening in countries where there is a crisis as people’s freedoms are completely curtailed,” Mr. Musoma said.

He said it was unfortunate that Mr. Chellah had taken a route of demonising the country’s leadership and projecting a dictatorial picture to the world as the country expected more from him other than petty politicking.