It is said an armed man with nothing in his head is extremely dangerous.
For some time now, the PF of Edgar Lungu has been ‘empowering’ its youths into powerful cadres who are have started behaving like pests. They have not only become powerful, but also a threat and a nuisance to both PF leaders – their tutors for mischief – and innocent citizens.
Today Dora Siliya is saying she has reported to police an insinuation that she has given bricks of money to her agents for them to discredit or injure her opponents. A video is circulating on social media platforms where an unidentified male person, clad in a PF branded T-shirt and armed with two fat bundles of K100 notes, is springing on a bed splashed with numerous K100 notes.
The person in the video is heard warning a ‘Jay Jay’ to stop troubling Siliya because she has shared that huge amount of money.
Emmanuel ‘Jay Jay’ Banda is the person who seeks to unseat Siliya as Petauke Central PF member of parliament.
But the Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services says the video is “absolutely fake.”
“I’m extremely disappointed with some people who are aiming at tarnishing my name and the image of government by circulating fake videos that purport me to have given people money to discredit or injure people. That video is absolutely fake and it must be treated with the disgust and condemnation that it deserves. I have since reported the matter to the IG (Inspector General of Police) and it is my trust that the police will expeditiously address this matter,” says Dora adding that such videos are the very reason that the government wants to pass into law the cyber-security and cyber-crime Bill No. 2 of 2021 in Parliament. “If anyone can decide that they are going to take a video and allege untruths, then who is going to be safe? Not our children, not women [and] not anyone in society! This is why government has been very adamant about the fact the citizens would like a cyber space in which they operate where they feel safe. I have no idea who the person in the video is. I have given no-one money to injure or discredit anyone. This is why I have reported the matter to the police. I’m hoping that the IG and investigative wings will address this matter and ensure that the perpetrators are brought to book. People need to learn that the power [of the Internet] that they have in their hands should be used positively, and not to perpetrate crimes.”
Dora may be innocent but who knows the truth? PF!
Dora herself is not clean when it comes to playing dirty politics, going by her recent statements while in Eastern Province.
They say when you open your arms to change, don’t give up your values.
It is very difficult to sympathise with Dora and most PF ministers and members of parliament! They have scorched the political field and poisoned our citizens with a tribal mantra and the now infamous regimen of dishing out money. The amounts of money being publicly flaunted by leaders and supporters of the ruling Patriotic Front are certainly unprecedented in the history of this country. One could never have seen this display of cash – from unknown and unexplained sources – during the tenures of Dr Kenneth Kaunda or Levy Mwanawasa. And even though we saw displays of extravagance under Rupiah Banda and the MMD, they never reached the levels we are seeing today. If corruption was a toddler during the time of MMD, it is now a fully grown adult under the PF.
It takes a certain type of leader and leadership to be tolerant of such unethical and suspicious behaviour. This is the “ubomba mwibala alya mwibala” culture that sadly is part of Edgar’s legacy. It is a culture where a President allows his ministers to illegally stay in office after parliament was dissolved, illegally collecting salaries and allowances drawn from the taxpayer. This is a culture where when the Constitutional Court orders that the ministers repay that money, the ruling PF is quickly able to find over K4 million to pay for those leaders and refuse to disclose the names of its ‘benefactors’.
We wonder what principles and values they’re inculcating in our nation.
Dora should not pull a quick one by blaming cyber-bullying. This has nothing to do with cyber-bullying or cybercrime but everything to do with the PF politics of violence, hate speech and open corruption.
Ministers go about dishing out money in the name of the Republican President – it’s called empowerment!
Cadres are also doing the same. Social media is awash with PF cadres showing off their overnight wealth – money! Just last month, a Catholic Parish in Ndola received a ‘donation’ of K50,000 from PF Copperbelt chairman Nathan Chanda who clearly stated that it was from President Lungu and the PF secretary general.
This why Ernesto Che Guevara stressed the importance of good examples. Che said, “People feel compelled to do something they do not actually feel like doing, or do not feel the need to do, but are nevertheless moved by the example set by their most outstanding comrades, who everyday perform these tasks with enthusiasm, zeal and joy. Examples, good examples and also bad examples, are very contagious and we must infect people with our good examples; we must influence the conscience of people, we must reach out to the conscience of people…”
PF has infected its rank and file with toxic examples and members are religiously following that ‘ideology’ – the PF’s ‘cash and carry’ politics!