GOOD governance activist Sikaile Sikaile says President Edgar Lungu should be told that his involvement in the privatisation of Cold Storage Limited has ‘produced’ widows.
He says the President should not go about “singing the privatisation song” when his own name is tainted.
Sikaile told The Mast on Saturday that the privatisation issue should be extended to everybody who was involved.
“It doesn’t matter what role one played; if this PF government wants to know the truth about privatisation, questions must be asked to everyone. This should not be made like HH’s [UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema] baby,” he said. “You can’t continue to say, ‘HH privatised this and that’ but you decide to permanently go silent on Edgar Lungu’s role in the privatisation of Cold Storage Zambia. Lungu was fully part of the privatisation of that company and so he must also explain the role he played.”
Sikaile asked: “why should a man like Lungu who was fully involved in privatisation turn into [a] hero today and start accusing others?
“I watched him at a political rally in Mwansabombwe and Lukashya recently where he was addressing people and coming out like an angel on privatisation. Lungu shouldn’t continue thriving on a few people’s ignorance, especially in our rural parts, and start selling pure lies about privatisation.”
He noted that next time President Lungu opens his mouth to talk anything concerning privatisation, “he must be quickly reminded that ‘boss, first tell us about what you did in the privatisation of Cold Storage.’”
Sikaile said Hichilema had been asked to give an account of his role in privatisation and that he did so.
“[But] who has ever heard Lungu say anything about his role in privatising Cold Storage? The man is ever quiet and the only time you hear him raise a voice is when he is accusing HH of having made some Zambians suffer, through unemployment due to privatisation. But my question today is ‘was Cold Storage not a company that had workers?’ If people who worked for InterContinental Hotel – Livingstone died due to unemployment, what happened to those who worked for Cold Storage Limited?” Sikaile asked. “How did they survive the harsh reality of unemployment? What does Lungu think about people who had relatives who worked for Cold Storage?”
He added that President Lungu “cannot fool every citizen with this privatisation song” that he has produced.
“He is the main composer of this privatisation song and he has a long list of backing vocalists. But let him tell us the role he played in the privatisation of Cold Storage Limited,” Sikaile insisted. “There are also widows today, whose husbands, the breadwinners, worked for Cold Storage and I’m actually in touch with three families in Chazanga area in Lusaka. Two families are in Chazanga and another widowed old woman is being kept by a granddaughter near Chilenje hospital in Lusaka. So, Lungu should not play smart about this privatisation song.”
He pointed out that asking President Lungu to speak out on the privatisation of Cold Storage Limited could not be regarded as unfair.
“His name is tainted and it’s just that he is shameless; otherwise he should never ever be in a position to point an accusing finger at anybody on privatisation,” Sikaile noted. “So what I’m pleading with Lungu is that let him direct his backing vocalists on the privatisation song to reduce the volume. Demanding that Lungu explains his role in the privatisation of Cold Storage Limited is not at all being unfair. So let him explain, unlike dancing around at rallies as if his privatisation of Cold Storage Limited has not produced widows.”
He said President Lungu’s hypocrisy “was too much”.
“So, for the commission of inquiry that he intends to set up on privatisation, we can only hope that he has enough to tell Zambians about what he knows about the privatisation of Cold Storage,” said Sikaile. “But even before that commission, let [President] Lungu open his mouth and tell us about anything to do with Cold Storage. We have had too much of his hypocrisy!”