Controversial Patriots for Economic Progress (PeP) President Sean E Tembo has charged that when given a chance to serve the nation President Hakainde Hichilema takes advantage to steal from the Zambian people in order to enrich himself.

Featuring on Radio Phoenix’s Let the People Talk Show on Friday morning, Mr. Tembo, who was recently detained by police close to a week for allegedly defaming President Hichilema, said the Head of State abuses his authority to steal from Zambians.

He said being prone to abusing his authority is the key reason President Hichilema has refused to declare his assets publicly after assuming office as 7th Republican President.

Mr. Tembo said President Hichilema took advantage when chairing the privatization committee in the 1990s to sale Intercontinental Hotel in Livingstone to the company in which he served as one of the directors at a cheaper price.

He said even now President Hichilema is stealing from Zambians by offering foreign mining companies tax holidays.

Mr. Tembo alleged that the Republican President was a shrewd and sophisticated character.

“If Hakainde Hichilema abused Zambia during privatization for his own personal benefit to the effect that at the end of the process the Zambian people were poorer and Hakainde was richer then how much more abuse is Hakainde Hichilema as President likely to engage in now with the huge powers that he has and sophistication that he has gained over the years. I will give you one example of how Hichilema abused his role in the privatization; this is well documented in the public domain, the sale of Intercontinental Hotel in Livingstone. We all know how many bids were there. They were about four bids; the highest bid was about 25 Million to buy that hotel from Zambia. The lowest was about six million. Hakainde Hichilema decided to sale Intercontinental Hotel for six million instead of the highest bid which was 25 million. He sold it for six million and he did not end there, it was later found out that the company to which Hakainde Hichilema sold the Intercontinental Hotel in Livingstone he was a director in that company and all these documents are there at PACRA,” Mr. Tembo said.

The opposition leader dared President Hichilema that he was ready to prove his accusations against the Head of State in Court.

“I have the documents myself. He was the director in the company which he sold the hotel to at a low price. So it was the same as he is selling the hotel to himself because he was a director in that company. So, it is that kind of abuse which resulted in a situation whereby at the end of the privatization process all our palastatal companies were sold off and we were poor and we had nothing to show for our companies. I would call it stealing. So, Hakainde Hichilema stole from the Zambian people during privatization and there are records to that effect. If he wants we can go to court tomorrow and we can have an argument in court but in my assessment and I am saying this not as an ordinary Zambian, I am a professional forensic auditor so I know what constitutes fraud and what does not constitute fraud. If the Zambian government appointed him as negotiations chairman to sale a particular asset of the country and he went and sold to a lower bidder. That is fraud,” he said.

Mr. Tembo continued: “So, Hakainde Hichilema stole from the Zambian people before during privatization and even right now he is stealing from the Zambian people by giving mines these defector tax holidays to the mines. The only thing that can prevent Hakainde Hichilema from continuing to steal from the Zambian people is strong opposition leaders like myself and that is the reason why Hakainde Hichilema does not sleep over Sean Tembo because he knows that one of the few people who understands his sophisticated schemes of how to steal from the Zambian people is Sean Tembo and Sean Tembo is not afraid of exposing him on any given day. That is the reason why at any particular time he is comfortable sending his police officers to come and kidnap, make me spend six days in prison, make an argument in the media that Sean Tembo wanted to be in cells.”

Mr. Tembo added that President Hichilema is avoiding declaring his assets fearing that he would be held accountable when he amasses more wealth at the time he will leave office.

“Those kinds of arguments, that is the other reason why Hakainde Hichilema does not want to declare his assets. He doesn’t want to declare his assets because the moment he declares his assets we are going to know that when he was entering office he had 65 million kwacha now he is leaving office with four billion kwacha. Mr. Hakainde Hichilema sir, can you explain to us how your wealth grew from 64 million in 2021 to this Four Billion when you are leaving office. He is afraid of answering that question. The only way to avoid being held accountable is him dodging and ducking declaring his assets. He wants to steal as much as possible from the Zambian people and I am one of the few people that stand between the resources of Zambia and Hakainde Hichilema stealing those resources of Zambia,” Mr. Tembo said.

And Mr. Tembo said he does not take pleasure in being arrested and detained by police. He refuted claims that he likes to be arrested in order to gain political mileage.

Mr. Tembo said no normal person would like to be arrested and detained because police cells were not habitable.

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