Economic Front (EF) President Wynter Kabimba has accused President Hakainde Hichilema of showing traits of a dictator by using strong language against his predecessor Edgar Lungu.
During a UPND party meeting in Kitwe on Monday, President Hichilema said it was stupid “Ukutumpa” that Mr. Lungu and the PF wanted to retain power through violence and lies.
Featuring on Lusaka’s Pan African Radio, Mr. Kabimba, a veteran lawyer, said the culture of a sitting Head of State intimidating citizens should be condemned and discouraged.
He said President Hichilema should stop vilifying Mr. Lungu, who he said should be allowed to enjoy his rights and freedoms conferred on him by the Republican Constitution.
The former Justice Minister said the ‘Kutumpa uko’ words used by President Hichilema against Mr. Lungu in the Copperbelt Province have lowered the dignity of his office.
“What happened two, three days ago on the Copperbelt. The vulgar language uttered by HH against his predecessor in my view lowers the levels of maturity of that office. HH has lowered the levels of maturity of that office. He is coming across as a petty man; he is coming across as a confused man who doesn’t know which direction he wants to go. Is coming across as a vengeful person. is coming across as somebody who wants to be idolized and if you read the text or you listen to him for the first time he did not use the pronoun we, he was saying I, I will make sure that he (Edgar Lungu) does not come back to power. Who is he? Who is he to make that decision? Isn’t that what people were saying about him in PF? Were people not saying HH will never rule this country; we will make sure that he doesn’t but he became President. Didn’t he learn a lesson from that? Is that seat an inheritance from his father in Bweengwa? I thought that is a public seat,” Mr. Kabimba said.
He continued: “I can tell you myself that ECL has no intention of coming back to lead this country. But he has every right to live in this country and enjoy all the rights of any other citizen. That is the right he has and those rights are not conferred on him by HH, they are conferred on him by the Constitution of the Republic of Zambia. He has the right to and worship where he wants to worship. Those congregations that he joins have a right to ask him to say something as a citizen so to listen to a Head of State saying that I can’t be intimidated, who is intimidated by him? The only time when I listened to this language was during the Chiluba-Kaunda era.”
He said President Hichilema is being intimidated by his failure to improve people’s living standards.
“Who is intimidating him? What is intimidating him is the hunger of the Zambian people. The suffering that the Zambian people are going through, that is what is intimidating him. The failure for him to give Mopani Copper Mines employees jobs back as he promised. The failure by him to get KCM back on its knees so that the contractors who were supplying goods and services there can have a living. So that the miners are back in employment, that is why is intimidating him, not Lungu. So he is trying to divert the attention of his own failures by using ECL.Move away from that narrative that I am defending ECL. I am defending justice because if we allow HH to build this culture of intimidating others tomorrow it may be me. After all he has already warned me that go and tell that Wynter Kabimba so he is coming up like kama dictator to intimidate everybody,” Mr. Kabimba said.
