EX-ENVOY DEFENDS LUNGU

Tue, 26 Sep 2017 13:55:07 +0000

By Rogers Kalero

A former ambassador to Namibia has charged that it is nonsense to gain political mileage by making wild corruption allegations against President Edgar Lungu and his government without providing evidence.

Reacting to claims from some politicians and sections of society that there was corruption in the acquisition of the 42 Fire Engines, Dorothy Nachilongo said those with evidence of corruption should present it before the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) instead of issuing statements in the media.

She said politicians who were making allegations against President Lungu and his government only wanted to dent his image, especially that he was performing well in areas of infrastructure development.

“Some people are saying President Lungu is corrupt, he has done this he has done that yet cannot provide evidence. They are just trying to dent his name as they want to convince Zambians that President Lungu is bad.

“But the truth of the matter is that President Lungu means well for this country. Most of the people who call others corrupt are corrupt themselves.

“So Zambians should be careful, they should not listen to such. Where is the evidence to show that President Lungu is corrupt?’’ Ms Nachilongo said.

Ms Nachilongo urged President Lungu to continue ignoring provocative statements but instead concentrate on his vision of improving the economy.

She said being the republican President,  Mr Lungu was subject to all sorts of insults from those he was leading regardless of how much he was doing to improve the country’s economy.

“My advice to President Lungu is that he should continue to ignore any kind of provocation from those who don’t like him. You know, being a republican President, some people will not look at what you are doing, but will just hate you as an individual and they will say all sorts of bad things about you.

“But the best thing you can do is to continue to ignore those tantrums and concentrate on what you are doing. If you are a focused person, no one will distract you and I think President Lungu is focused,” She said.

Ms Nachilongo urged Zambians to live as one family regardless of their tribal, political and religious affiliations because unity and peace was vital in overcoming various challenges in any society.

Ms Nachilongo said differences were normal among human beings, but the most important thing was to engage in dialogue and resolve differences to live in peace and harmony.

“So as human beings let us live as one family, we may have differences, but let us dialogue over our differences and resolve them peacefully,” She said.