CHIEF Hamusonde (r) says President Edgar Lungu and other PF leaders will remember The Post once out of power.
He warned President Lungu that unless The Mast will give him space, the State media will just feast on him or any of his ministers.
Hamusonde asked President Lungu’s government to pay Post Newspaper (in liquidation) employees “since you have already sold all company assets”.
He said President Lungu and all PF leaders will remember The Post once they are out of office as it was the only voice of those oppressed by government.
Hamusonde of Bweengwa, west of Monze, said President Lungu was quick to close and place the newspaper under liquidation but has since gone silent after striping its assets through the liquidator Lewis Mosho.
“I feel for all the ex-employees of once Zambia’s or Africa’s leading newspaper, The Post. They have and continue suffering untold misery after being sent onto the street by President Lungu. The man has since not even mentioned anything over the workers despite Mr Mosho who is an agent of the government having sold all that was built as a leading media empire. Even his Minister of Information (Dora Siliya) is mute over the matter,” he said. “The nation would be interested to know how the proceeds of the liquidation have been utilised. If this silence continues, we are only left to speculate that the funds have been looted. So my appeal is that the liquidator must pay all the workers their dues. I did see adverts over the call to ex-employees of the paper to provide certain documentation but all is now quiet.”
Hamusonde advised President Lungu to tell the nation what transpired to The Post as he was quick to send in Zambia Revenue Authority and policemen to the newspaper’s headquarters on Bwinjimfumu Road and to Dr Fred M’membe’s residence.
“If he is shy, let him tell his minister Siliya or her permanent secretary Amos Malupenga who was a high ranking journalist at The Post to tell us what is happening since Mosho seems to be now living a lavish life to care about the suffering ex-workers,” Hamusonde said.
He reminded President Lungu that inasmuch as he could celebrate to having done what presidents Frederick Chiluba, Rupiah Banda and Levy Mwanawasa did not do (closing The Post), he would soon have no media outlet to give him space after he leaves office.
Hamusonde said the State media, in the Times of Zambia, Daily Mail, and the ZNBC would abandon him once out of office and in trouble with the law.
“We all saw how the State owned media used to do with Chiluba, it was only The Post that probably gave him balanced coverage even after having exposed his weaknesses while in office. The same will happen to Mr Lungu, maybe The Mast will give him space but the State media will just feast on him or any of his ministers,” he warned. “Remember that the PF ministers have a lot of skeletons hidden in their closets such as the judgment by the Constitutional Court that they need to pay back the 2016 moneys when they remained in office after parliament was dissolved. I pity and feel for them but it’s up to God, the Almighty, to pass judgment through our courts of law and not me. But please feel for the many families affected by your closure of The Post, for once show that you feel for the suffering masses.”
Hamusonde added that he was saddened by the fact the PF had gone all out to undo what president Michael Sata did by embracing The Post.
He indicated that nearly all former Post employees who were sent into foreign missions by Sata had been recalled.
Meanwhile, James Lukuku has also asked President Lungu and Mosho to pay former Post employees because all assets of the liquidated company had been sold.
“It’s immoral to deliberately subject families to miseries for the sole purpose of political expedition,” Lukuku said.
“The same speed with which President Edgar Lungu moved while advocating the closure of The Post is the same speed expected of his government at ensuring affected former employees are paid. As President, he must not take advantage of the voiceless and powerless people to subject them to painful injustices.”
Lukuku said it looks like President Lungu was a sadist, who enjoys the suffering of people because “there is no way he can spearhead a liquidation and forget about the plight of affected employees”.
“Lewis Mosho has been giving antagonistic and helpless responses to Post Newspaper former employees. But there is no statement to show the schedule of liquidation,” Lukuku said.
“Let Mosho comprehensively explain how much was raised from the sale of Post Newspaper assets. How much was paid to banks? How much was paid to ZRA and NAPSA? And how much was paid to other suppliers? Let him explain why he thinks Post Newspaper former employees do not deserve to be paid their dues. Let us not embrace daylight exploitation of man by man. Mosho and President Lungu must sit down together and formulate a schedule to ensure former workers are paid.”
Lukuku said it was too insensitive for President Lungu to keep enjoying while other families could not educate their children because they were suffering from State-sponsored exploitation.
“I call upon all affected workers to glue together and fight this injustice by exhaustion of all possible channels,” said Lukuku, president of Republican Progressive Party.