WHY IS NALUMANGO IN LUSAKA AND HAKAINDE HICHILEMA IN DUBAI ATTENDING MEETINGS WHEN THE COUNTRY IS FACING A DISASTER? – PF VEEP ASKS
…..says if it had happened during PF, it would have been declared a national disaster and declared national mourning…
Patriotic Front Vice President Given Lubinda has described as totally diabolical the minimal attention being given to the mining disaster that has claimed multiple lives in Chingola.
Speaking this afternoon at the PF Secretariat, Mr Lubinda expressed worry with the manner the Chingola open pit mine disaster is being handled by the country’s leadership.
Mr Lubinda said last time something similar happened was during the reign of First Republican President Dr. Kenneth Kaunda and the then head of state left everything he was doing in order to mourn with the Zambians.
“The last time we had such an accident in Zambia, was in 1970 and 87 lives were lost in Muflira… Dr Kenneth Kaunda had to leave whatever he was doing, he went and camped on the Copperbelt for a week and went and visited the homes of every victim and yet today, this is the third day going, we haven’t heard about any political leadership that has been provided in Chingola” Mr Lubinda said.
The PF Vice President wonders why Vice President Mrs Nalumango is in Lusaka and not in Chingola to commensurate with the families of the victims of the disaster.
“Where is she? She’s acting President and here in Lusaka instead of going to communicate with the people in Chingola.” He said.
“President Hakainde is in Dubai, having meetings in Dubai instead of coming back to Zambia to come and face the challenges people are facing, the lives that are lost in Chingola, are Zambian lives and there is nothing more precious than one Zambian life.” Mr Lubinda added.
He further said that with the number of people that have been lost it is expected of the President to prioritize mourning with Zambians as the occurrence is a national disaster.
“President Hakainde Hichilema is in Dubai, having meetings in Dubai instead of coming back to Zambia to come and face the challenge that his people are facing.” He said.
And the PF Veep also assured that if the disaster had occurred during the PF’s days, it would have been declared a national disaster and a week of national mourning would have been put in place.
“Had that happened during the reign of the Patriotic Front, I can assure you that we’d have declared that a national disaster and we’d have declared a week of national mourning.” He said