KAKUBO SUSPECT
…we know UPND has sidelined Chinese – Kalaba
By Staff Reporter
FORMER foreign affairs minister Harry Kalaba says what Stanley Kakubo did was wrong and his meeting with Chinese was casual for a chief diplomatic.
“He went privately, met those Chinese privately. And right now we know that the relationship between the Chinese and the UPND is not very good because they have been sidelined, the Chinese,” Kalaba, the Democratic Party president said. “What I know about Ministry of Foreign Affairs is that we are told at foreign affairs that we have to be very careful even in the manner in which we meet foreign dignitaries even outside our offices. In fact, there’s an unwritten rule at foreign affairs that you don’t meet ambassadors alone because you can even be accused of espionage. You can even be accused of having been trying to sell your country’s positions. You can be accused of betraying your country’s diplomatic rights and things like that. So that is why a foreign minister cannot be casual about anything.”
Kalaba said Kakubo was casual.
“Kakubo what he did was wrong. He went privately, met those Chinese privately. And right now we know that the relationship between the Chinese and the UPND is not very good because they have been sidelined, the Chinese. And so Kakubo, all this thing is so suspect. That is why he is also responding because if there was nothing to respond to, why respond? He could just have brushed it off. But the fact that he has responded should tell you that there’s something that Kakubo knows,” said Kalaba.
“It’s unprecedented for a Minister of Foreign Affairs to interact with an ambassador outside his office alone. It is beneath his office. And the minister should give a better explanation than the one he has given. How was the minister buying cement on a holiday? Why should a company give a calendar to the Minister in mid-April? Why should the Ambassador meet the Minister when he was doing private errands?
I was minister of foreign affairs for four years, never did I meet ambassadors privately outside my office. And even when I met them at foreign affairs, it was in the presence of officials. And by the way, calendars are never delivered in suitcases.”
After pictures of him at Sinoma went viral on social media on Saturday, Kakubo via Facebook wrote that, “Good day to you all. We have noted a malicious post making rounds on social media suggesting that we are involved in acts of bribery. I visited Sinoma as a private citizen with view to ordering pockets of cement and premix cement. Management identified me and opted to walk me to the car park and also gave me a gift pack containing their branded calendar and a pen as souvenir. Corrupt people do not go about getting bribes in car parks and in broad daylight. We therefore urge the public not to moved by such posts as we remain to committed to serving our Country with highest sense of discipline and honest posture. We wish you a pleasant Easter holidays and thank you. SKK 16.4.22”.