By ROGERS KALERO
MY investment in the helicopter is a visible investment venture which all Zambians can see and I challenge Hakainde Hichilema to show which business he has undertaken to benefit the Zambian people, Foreign Affairs Minister, Joe Malanji has said.
Mr Malanji said his money was helping the constituency through donations and projects and wanted HH to show which projects he had undertaken anywhere in Zambia incuding Southern Province to help Zambians. Mr Malanji said, ‘‘aircraft is for business why should it only be foreigners who hire out aircraft.’’ Mr Malanji said he has already given documents relating to the purchase of his private helicopter to law enforcement agencies to prove his financial capacity.
Mr Malanji, who is Kwacha Member of Parliament, said he was not bothered or shaken by the “nonsense” from critics about his newly[1]acquired plane. He was speaking in Kitwe yesterday when he addressed PF constituency and district officials at Buchi Hall. “People were saying from a lodge to a helicopter.
They were even misleading people that I had stolen. Do they know how much I had invested to buy the helicopter? I will now be forced to respond to such kind of nonsense. “For your information, that helicopter will be used for business to make money which will be used in Kwacha constituency. I mean tourists will be booking that helicopter and money will be used here in Zambia unlike previously when they used to book foreign choppers,” he said. He said it was utter nonsense for some section of society to doubt his capacity to buy a plane when he was running various businesses in Zambia and outside the country.
Mr Malanji, who lodged in his application letter for adoption yesterday, said he had the required qualifications and dismissed postings on social media that he had been knocked out of the 2021 elections. “Apart from the issue of the helicopter, there was also a story on social media that I had been knocked out of the 2021 elections because I had no grade 12 certificate, but today I am from pushing my application letter for adoption and I will be the MP for Kwacha even after August 12,” he said.
Meanwhile, the MP said UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema must prove that he is an industrialist by putting up a beef processing factory to create employment in Southern Province since he owns a lot of cattle.
Mr Malanji said the opposition leader should not only boost about being an economist and an Industrialist without proving himself through tangible benefits for the local people. He said any individual aspiring for any political position must first prove that he has the heart for the people and help improve their lives. “If I was Hakainde Hichilema and I had the money he is claiming to have, I would have put up a university in Southern Province to send a signal that if given the position of Republican President, I will do more for the people in the area.
