You’ll never hear HH tell you the truth – KBF
By Kombe Chimpinde Mataka
PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema is the most irresponsible President we have now, says Zambia Must Prosper leader Kelvin Fube Bwalya.
Featuring on Diamond TV’s Costa programme on Sunday evening, Bwalya said President Hichilema was detached from reality and engulfed in lying to the Zambians.
He said because of the President’s detachment from reality, he could not anticipate the current load shedding.
“You will never hear Hakainde Hichilema tell you the truth. The President of this country is a liar and we must call him for what he is. That’s it. And what has turned out unfortunately is that most of technocrats have fallen into lying and he calls that being misinformed. Now the technocrats have to sing his song so that they seem good because that is what he likes,” Bwalya said. “He does not like being told the truth. If you tell him the truth, he cancels the truth. He tells you what you should tell him. And when you say it to him he says you are misinforming him. Nobody misinformed Hakainde. Figures don’t lie. For example, those numbers that you mentioned, Kariba North Bank has got 1,080 megawatts. These are figures, figures don’t lie.”
Bwalya contended that looking at the amount of power the country has there should be no load shedding despite power exports.
“By the way, Kariba North Bank alone has got 360 megawatts. Kafue Gorge Power Station, the original power station is at 990 megawatts of power. Kafue Gorge Lower is supposed to be operating at 750 megawatts but they commissioned 650 megawatts. Lunzua 14.8 megawatts, Lusiwasi 12 megawatts, Lusiwasi Lower 15 [megawatts],” he explained. “Victoria Power Station at 108, Chishimba hydro – 15, Musonda 10, Itezhi Tezhi at 120. From the independent power producers: Maamba Collieries 300 megawatts, Ngonye plant 28 megawatts, Bangweulu Solar Plant – 54 megawatts. Ndola, this one operates on hard oils; a 110 megawatt. Lusemfwa, 56 megawatts. Now, put these figures together and the amount of power at peak this country is supposed to have…We shouldn’t be having load shedding. So it is very clear that power is going somewhere else. And where it’s going is because as you will remember, the President flew to Tanzania, he flew to Namibia. He has been to South Africa, he has been to Botswana. He has been to Swaziland. All these places he has been to, he has gone to sign deals to export our power. How many times is Zambia going to be bailing out some of our neighbours? During the independence struggle we bailed them out, now we are doing the same thing at our expense!”
Bwalya said Zambians do not have a president in State House per se.
“We have a businessman in State House, not a president per se. He is not a politician. To him everything is about profits. A government does not run to make profits. A government runs to provide services to its people. If he wants to run a business let him resign and go and do business,” he said.
Bwalya said the country cannot be run like a business because there were certain things the government would have to provide at a loss.
He further charged that President Hichilema is not being helpful to Zambians but to himself.
“That is being irresponsible! And I’m sorry to say HH is one of the most irresponsible presidents we have right now and I will call him that to his face. Hakainde Hichilema is the most irresponsible President we have had in terms of taking decisions to protect the Zambians,” he stressed. “He is not being helpful to the Zambians and he will continue to do that as long as he is making a profit. But part of this profit that he wants to make is because he wants to be paying back loans which he says he wants to clear – debt burden. You do not clear a debt burden by creating chaos in your own country. That does not work. Nobody does that. That is being irresponsible to the worst and I don’t think I will apologise over that.”
Bwalya said President Hichilema seemed not to understand the extent of people’s problems.
He accused President Hichilema of not being concerned about load shedding.
“If he does, there is very little he understands. He lives in a bubble and the bubble that he lives in is the IMF. As long as he is doing what the IMF wants, he does not care about the Zambian people. He will just do what the IMF wants him to do. He is their blue-eyed boy. Whether or not you like it that is what we have for a president today,” Bwalya said. ‘’Power comes at 02:00 (hours), who is going to be in a restaurant at 02:00 (hours)? It does not make sense. The whole thing is in a shambles. They never thought this thing through. As usual the UPND never thinks through any policy, anyway. They stayed in opposition and we thought they have got this. They have spent so much time in the opposition, surely they must have learnt something. They must have planned something. They have no plans.”
Bwalya also claimed that President Hichilema does not listen to any of his advisors.
“Zambia Must Prosper has information that the President does not listen to anybody apart from some Europeans who are working with him at State House. That committee is just a facade to blind the Zambians that something is being done. But we know he is getting instructions from some white boys who have come from somewhere,” he said.
On President Hichilema’s decision to overrule local government minister Gary Nkombo’s decision to move street vendors in view of the threat of cholera, Bwalya described it as incompetence.
“The level of incompetence in the UPND is shattering. There is no coordination in everything that they do. Have you ever seen or heard the Minister of Energy Hon [Peter] Kapala talk about load shedding? No. The Minister of Green [Economy and Environment Collins Nzovu] talk about load shedding? No. The people talking about load shedding are Zesco and the President. Why don’t the ministers work? Big question mark,” said Bwalya. “You talked about cholera coming. Hon Nkombo said ‘this is not right let’s remove (vendors), did he not consult his boss before he made that ultimatum? 24 hours later he is summoned to State House like a school boy and told to retract. What are we doing?”