Let HH speak for himself, Nakacinda tells Hamasaka

Let HH speak for himself, Nakacinda tells Hamasaka

By George Zulu

PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema must speak for himself over his implication in criminal activities as alleged by expelled Patriotic Front (PF) Member of Parliament Robert Chabinga, Raphael Nakacinda has said.

Featuring on the Hot Seat programme on Hot FM Radio yesterday, Nakacinda, secretary general of PF, said Hichilema’s chief communications specialist Clayson Hamasaka was a wrong person to comment on an activity that happened after mid night as if he was present when the head of state allegedly called Chabinga to send him on “a special operation”.

Hamasaka was quoted as saying Hichilema should not be implicated in the audio circulating on social media exposing a conspiracy to influence the outcome of the case in which government has sued the family of late former president Edgar Lungu over his burial.

“…the phone calls were after midnight, zero two. [Clayson] Hamasaka was sleeping at his house. You understand what I’m saying? He can’t speak authoritatively to matters that happened after midnight. He knocks off… [unless he tells us that he was there and was listening to the conversation],” he said.

Nakacinda said most people after midnight were asleep and those awake were night workers.

“After midnight, what we know in Zambia is that ni bakazizi bamene basebenza usiku [it’s owls that work in the night]. And you know when I use the word bakazizi, after midnight is superstitious. You’re expected to finish your business formally at a particular time,” he said.

Nakacinda who referred to Chabinga as “that boy”, said he Chabinga had insisted in the recording that Hichilema had called him and 12 of the missed calls were from the head of state.

“But the boy [Chabinga] said ‘I was called. I was even sleeping. I woke up’. Maybe enzofuna kuyenda tunda [maybe he wanted to go and relieve himself] and then apeza [found] 12 missed calls from the President, 30 missed calls were from Friday, [Nyambe] director general of intelligence. Just those allegations are too grave for us to start debating a guy who has been called on the phone and says, ‘I can’t confirm. And I can tell you that what he has alleged is not true’,” Nakacinda said referring to Hamasaka.

He said if the United Party for National Development (UPND) and Hichilema were not involved, Chabinga would have been arrested by now for accusing the President of serious things.

“By now, Chabinga, if the way we know the UPND and Mr Hichilema, if they were not involved, Chabinga would have been in cells. Small boys have just said the things which are not as grave as what Chabinga said over the President, but have been picked up and thrown in jail. Some of them have disappeared and we don’t know where they are. For doing what? For saying things that are considered insults towards an elder person. Though the law does not define what you can say an insult and so on because some of the things we say in Bemba, in Tonga and so on, they may not really in our culture be an insult. You have heard the President himself, you know,” Nakacinda said.

He said people like Francis Kapwepwe, popularly known as Why Me, had disappeared for saying things which had offended the President and the UPND, wondering why Chabinga was still freely issuing threats when he had implicated the President in criminal activities.