HH MUST REVEAL HIS INCOME, HE NEVER DONATED HOSPITALS AS AN OPPOSITION LEADER – MUNDUBILE

HH MUST REVEAL HIS INCOME, HE NEVER DONATED HOSPITALS AS AN OPPOSITION LEADER – MUNDUBILE

TONSE faction President Brian Mundubile says President Hakainde Hichilema must disclose the source of his income, even as he makes huge donations.

Mundubile has questioned why President Hichilema is making huge donations such as hospitals, when he never did so as an opposition leader.

Last week, Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development Minister Charles Milupi visited the newly constructed health facility in Kalangu area of Mongu district, which according to him, was funded by President Hichilema’s family.

Milupi said the construction of the hospital was done in memory of the 2017 incident, when President Hichilema was charged with treason.

Commenting on this development in an interview, Mundubile further wondered why the personal resources were not seen during President Hichilema’s opposition years, questioning where the money came from.

“We have a situation today where some of our rich leaders, our wealthy leaders, never gave out such big donations to the community while in opposition. So these wealthy leaders are only giving big donations now, so the question is where is the money coming from? Because if they were wealthy then, like they are wealthy now, why didn’t you see them giving out such gifts when they were in opposition? We have seen government go after leaders from the previous regime who did similar things. We are wondering now, with them, they can give out these gifts and claim they are from their personal resources, which personal resources we didn’t see when they were in opposition. The question people are asking, are these personal resources only available now? And if so, where are they coming from and for what reason are they acquiring these resources in the manner they are doing?” Mundubile asked.

He added that this was why citizens had been urging President Hichilema to declare his assets.

“And that is the reason why citizens have been pushing for him to declare assets, so that when he claims to have made such donations, citizens can then know that it is from his wealth that he is making these donations. In the absence of that, it becomes very difficult, because when people are campaigning, they are very, very generous when they are campaigning. So when President Hichilema was campaigning, he could have made similar donations even to other regions. But we never saw him make any such donations. But today, President Hakainde Hichilema makes donations in millions to churches, and he’s donating to schools and hospitals. Where has that wealth come from suddenly? So the reason we demand for him to declare his assets is exactly that,” Mundubile said.

“Citizens, even those that are receiving donations to the churches, must be comfortable that they are receiving these donations from him and from his own resources, because we would have known his wealth better. But as it is now, nobody knows. Nobody knows what the President really had, or what he had when he got into State House, and what he’s got five years later. So the only thing we know is that he has only been able to make these donations now, which donations he didn’t make before. So we don’t know whether that wealth existed then, or it has just come into being now”.

Mundubile also questioned how President Hichilema could have reacted if he had been in late former president Edgar Lungu’s position during the Mongu treason incident.

“So if you talk about memory of the Mongu incident, President Hakainde Hichilema should watch that video when he interfered with the motorcade of the President [then], and ask himself one question, what could he have done if he was the one in the presidency then and an opposition leader did what he did? What would have happened to that opposition leader today? We have cases of Ronald Chitotela, Chilangwa and Kalumba who have been incarcerated with offenses of arson and damage to property arising from some electoral violence. Which cases were experienced all over the country perpetrated by UPND and yet only Chilangwa and Chitotela found themselves incarcerated. So we are comparing, we are looking at the gravity of this matter. Has he looked at the gravity of that matter?” asked Mundubile.

“I would like him to watch that video and ask himself that question. What would have happened to that opposition leader had he been the one in the presidency? Given that colleagues like Chilangwa and Chitotela are now serving jail sentences in cases where they were not even anywhere near the violence that happened. So as leaders, we have to be sincere. Leaders have got to be sincere in the manner that they do things. They should be sincere by disclosing the source of their income even as they are making these big donations because we never saw them make such big donations even when they were competing in opposition. So we ask the question, has this work just come now? Is this work just coming in now? Or is it coming from their personal resources? And the application of the law, is it selective? Why is it that the only people who are found wanting are people belonging to other political parties and not others?”

News Diggers