ASPIRING PF PRESIDENT LIES ABOUT PRESIDENT HICHILEMA APPOINTING RELATIVES … DOESN’T JUST WANT TO SEE TONGA APPOINTMENTS
By Shalala Oliver Sepiso
How one PF leader takes himself seriously to a point where he has wasted K200,000 nomination fees to stand as PF presidential candidate beats me. If you want to be a president, you have to adopt seriousness and things you say should have verisimilitude or at least some modicum of truth. However, the man has perfected the art of lying and he does it without butting an eye. He does it with gusto, licking his lips and while smiling carelessly from ear to ear. The problem is not him but the people who take what he says and writes seriously.
Yesterday, through the page that he manages as an admin named “Patriotic Front” our lying friend wrote: “President Hakainde Hichilema has appointed former Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) Director General, Perry Mapani as new IDC CEO to replace Mateyo C. Kaluba. … Like Victor Mapani, Perry is a relation to President Hakainde Hichilema. … The position like that of his brother at ZESCO, was not subjected to competition or public advertisement.”
The issue here is our man first looked at the names Perry Mapani and Victor Mapani and concluded that the two are related. It’s like me saying that Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba, UNIP stalwart Sylvester Mwamba Chisembele from Mansa, the late sports administrator Mwamba Kalenga, late boxing coach Anthony Mwamba and Emmanuel Mwamba of the opposition PF are all related simply because of their names. Perry Mapani and Victor Mapani are not related. Secondly he said that Perry Mapani, like Victor, are both related to President Hakainde Hichilema. The truth is that Perry is not related to President Hichilema and our lying man is free to shame me by unleashing whatever data he has. Perry Mapani is an Easterner. Perry Mapani is not from Southern Province. Maybe Bally is an Easterner after all. Maybe that is why imwe Ba PF stopped him from leaving Chipata Airport and entering Chipata with pomp and splendor ahead of the 2021 elections. The name Mapani is a bastardisation of the English word “pans” from cooking utensils and can be Tonga, Lozi, Chewa or even Bemba. But our brother assumed things and only saw Tonga as the possibility. Perry is a Mapani from Eastern. Its like the name Mwenda. We have Mwendas from Northern, Eastern, Western and Southern. Same as Miyanda. General Godfrey Miyanda is from Eastern, late Sports Minister Samuel Miyanda was from Lusaka Province while female entrepreneur Miyanda Katiwa should be from Southern Province.
As for the appointment of Perry Mapani, what the PF won’t tell you is that Mr. Perry Mapani was appointed as the Director General of the Zambia Development Agency effective 15th January 2018. This was under Edgar Lungu. They found him to be brilliant then but don’t want the UPND to also use his brilliance. Mapani worked in a large national investment entities like ZCCM Investment Holdings Plc as Chief Financial Officer and he was Country Manager of Afgri Zambia Limited. Perry holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree (Hons) in Accounting and Finance as well as an MBA. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation as well as being a fellow with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. Perry went to Munali Secondary School and those who grew up with him know he lived in Rhodespark on Joseph Mwilwa Road not the Dundumwezi our friend is imagining.
Basically what our lying friend was trying to say is that Perry Mapani, Victor Mapani and President HH are Tongas and are related by tribe. This is because he doesn’t have proof of any other relation. Our lying friend is just not happy to see Tonga appointments. He is usually diplomatic in his language as so will only say it subtly that the two Mapanis are related to HH knowing what tribe HH is. Last week I wrote an article about how Tongas are an endangered species in Zambian politics and how they are damned if appointed and damned if not appointed. I also argued that it is funny and tragic at the same time to have Tongas who were marginalised in the last government of Edgar Chagwa Lungu, to be advocated for discrimination under the UPND government. So which government will be ok to appoint them?
So our man listen, President Hakainde Hichilema is not related to Victor Benjamin Mapani either. Your malice is intended to suggest that Hakainde Hichilema is nepotistic. But in this case you have lied. You can’t hide lies. Neither can you hide truth. The Germans have a proverb: “Lies have short legs.” When life becomes a maze of either people-pleasing or self-pleasing, the legs needed to carry that load are always too short. Lies beget lies, and soon the story becomes so absurd that the child or adult trying to get away with it is trapped.
To my brother, our lying friend, let me tell you that sincerity is an important skill. Sometimes it might be hard to tell Zambian voters the truth but you need to know that Zambian voters appreciate your sincerity whenever you rarely put it across. There is nothing better than telling the truth, especially once you realize that just like a lie, the truth always comes out, too. Even if you hide it behind a mountain, a truth will still be seen. It is just too large to hide.
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