HICHILEMA TREADING ON DANGEROUS PATH OF LIES, BEGINNING OF HIS DOWNFALL
…as Brebner Changala says there is a cost when a President start treading in lies, it is the beginning of his downfall
By Nelson Zulu
PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema is trading on a dangerous path of lies which will make his downfall and that of his government disastrous, Civil Rights Activist Brebner Changala has warned.
Commenting on the revelation by the South Africa Broadcast Corporation (SABC), a public broadcaster in South Africa that President Hichilema is in that country for a private visit as a guest speaker at a private function, Changala says confliction statements from the Presidency and the President himself are worrying and a source of concern among Zambians.
He says President Hichilema is not handling the media and the public with correct information as there is too much misinformation surrounding his international trips and the general conduct of government.
“Firstly, and foremost, the President is not handling the media in a manner they are supposed to do in the spirit they showed when they were just sworn in. There is a lot of misinformation coming from the Presidency and the President himself. And mind you the position that President HH (Hakainde Hichilema) is holding is that of the pinnacle, it is one of the first among equals and everybody’s eyes are focused on him,” Changala noted.
Changala a full-time proponent of the UPND and President Hichilema’s administration says that the Head of State should at all times thrive at issuing statements that are encored on truth and clarity before the people of Zambia start questioning his integrity.
“So he (President Hichilema) must endeavor at all times to issue statements that are well encored on clarity and truth because simple things like what has just transpired turn to tarnish his integrity, it turn to delete public confidence and make people believe that our colleague is nothing but a bedrock of lies,” he said.
He says there was nothing wrong for President Hichilema to inform Zambians that he was going to South Africa for a private visit as it was within his rights.
Changala said it is sad that now the receiving country (South Africa) has denied having invited the President but instead has clarified that it was a private visit as guest at some private function.
He has since warned President Hichilema and the UPND government that such conflicting statement coming from the highest office has a cost attached to it.
“So if he went to South Africa on a private visit there was nothing wrong to state it like that, if he went to South Africa on an official working visit there was nothing wrong to state it like that again, but the receiving country has clarified that he went there on a private visit and yet at home he told the nation that he went there on a working visit, these are conflicting statements , there is a cost when a President start trading in lies, there is a cost. Public confidence will evaporate and that is the beginning of his downfall and the downfall of his administration,” Changala warned.
“Trading on lies has a cost, people of Zambia will lose trust in him, they will in a very disappointing way, he will have no leg to stand on, he will be isolated.”
But Chief Government Spokesperson Chushi Kasanda has insisted that President Hichilema is on a State visit to South Africa, and if his trip was private the nation could have been informed as that.
Kasanda who refused to go deeper which meeting President Hichilema is attending in South Africa after the backlash from that country that he was on a private meeting as guest at a private function, asked the New Dawn Reporter to contact Anthony Bwalya Presidential Spokesperson for further details.
“The President is not on a private visit, the President has gone to meet his Excellency Cyril Ramaphosa, the President of South Africa and in no circumstances is he on a private visit. Should the President be on a private visit we will be able to inform the nation.
When the reporter asked Chushi to state the meeting President Hichilema is attending in South Africa, she declined but referred all queries to Presidential Spokesperson Anthony Bwalya who could not pick calls.
“..Actually what I can advise is that you call Anthony Bwalya, he is the Presidential Spokesperson, he will give you more light to it,” said Kasanda.