Veteran politician Vernon Mwaanga says President Edgar Lungu has treated him unfairly by attacking him openly before hearing his side of the story.
Responding to attacks by President Lungu in which Dr Mwaanga was accused of going round the region spreading falsehoods about the Lungu administration, the veteran said the attacks were unfair.
He said he expected President Lungu to have spoken to him first before lashing out at him in the media.
Dr Mwaanga however described President Lungu’s information about his trips as faulty.
Below is Dr Mwaanga’s statement
Statement by Dr Vernon J Mwaanga .
I have been receiving numerous calls from media houses and concerned citizens , following remarks which were made by President Edgar Lungu today at state house at a swearing in ceremony.
The President expressed disappointment that i have been travelling in the southern african region and spreading falsehoods about the current situation and events in zambia and something to the effect that the country was on fire.
I can confirm that i was invited to a meeting with President Lungu at state house late this morning after he had already made his statement.
At the time I went to state house and until after the meeting, i was not made aware that he had already made a public statement about me.
I only became aware after our meeting which was frank and transparent. I would have expected the President to invite me for a frank talk before going public and before relying on information about me which was turned out to be faulty.
Natural justice demands this procedure be followed as a minimum courtesy to a senior citizen and elder statesman like myself, who has always had the best interest of our country at heart.
I respect the confidentiality of our discussion with the head of state based on my long years of dealing with matters of statecraft , and will not divulge what we discussed, but suffice it to say that he gave me a fair opportunity to state my position after he had stated his and this is an opportunity i had looked forward to since March 2015, when he had promised me an opportunity to meet him and discuss matters relating to the welfare of our country.
As misfortune would have it , that meeting he had promised me never took place until today.
The President and i last met very briefly in Namibia in March 2015 at the inauguration of President Hage Geingob, where I had even gone to the airport in Windhoek to meet him when he arrived from Zambia accompanied by former President Rupiah Banda.
We were to meet in Lusaka after my return from Nigeria where i had gone to observe elections on behalf of the National Democratic Institute of the United States of America.
I am honoured that he gave me an opportunity this morning to talk to him in a very respectfully manner and I think we both understood each other’s respective positions and the way forward for our great country.
Mwanga is jealous because El doesn’t want to work with him
Thanks
BB2014,16
This is a baseless statement and wait here is the question, why has he resurfaced after the correct decision by the Government to incarcerate HH.
HH is facing treasonable case which if found guilty he will hang.
These are facts not fictions
Thanks
BB2014,2016
You can actually see the difference between VJ and Edgar as regards diplomatic etiquette. Edgar comes out uncouth. How does a president go out and attack a private citizen in public? The handlers of the presidency at State House need to save us form this embarrassment.
It is unnecessary for Mwaanga to kulondolola what’s up with him with Edgar.
VJ will be raided… Tear gas is coming to Roma.
Way to go VJ! Tell the piece of sh!t off.
@Mushota! tulefwayako abakwete amano ukulanda po. not iwee kanyo kobe. you have outlived your usefulness.
If only ECL could show some maturity like VJ, the country could have moved forward.
Lungu Must Go.
“He said he expected President Lungu to have spoken to him first before lashing out at him in the media”
VJ in any case accepts he should have been lashed out at as long as that happened AFTER he had met president Lungu …
VJ, you are the one who went to the press first. You said that dictators use the offence of trason to stay in power. Did you not? So if you insinuated that ECL is a dictator and everyone knows that you align with your tribesman, can’t you see how you put yourself up to be attacked? The most senior Statesman, KK, and your peers, RB, Sikota Wina, Grey Zulu, Aaron Milner, have not commented on HH’s case. Why did you, if it is not to help your fellow Bantustan citizen?
This is adrug dealer. He cant travel to Germany for sure.
@Mushota , you are cheap minded. You have a brain of an ostrich
End time politicians!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hear this: “[…] as a minimum courtesy to a senior citizen and elder statesman like myself, who has always had the best interest of our country at heart.” Mmmmm, leave it to us to judge you, and the verdict is: You no longer deserve those lofty credentials after having taken sides in the post-election fracas. Look yourself in the mirror.
Akupasako kang’ono iwe. SO WHICH SIDE ARE YOU NOW
VJ tells the international community the manner in which HH was arrested and some people are saying he is peddling false hoods.Wasn’t there tear gas during the arrest , wasn’t there breaking of doors, wasn’t there theft of property, Wasn’t there smashing of windows? They prefer VJ says HH was given a call out and the Police served HH with cake and drink, HOW? Ba Satana imwe please
If your ‘god’ had not hidden in the bunker all the tear gassing and breakages would not have happened. But he chose to hide from the police. His wife corroborated the fact that they were hiding. A minimum force had to be used to force him out of the hideout. I trust VJ liar explained the facts as they were. But his press statement showed that he was hiding or neglecting to express facts as they were. He wants to create an impression that the police just woke up one day and said let us tear gas HH.
IF KAINDE WAS NOT SMOKED OUT USING TEAR GAS, HE WOULD STILL BE HIDING IN THE BUNKER EVEN TODAY. SO THE POLICE HAD TO USE MINIMUM FORCE TO BRING HIM OUT BECAUSE HE WAS HIDING. AN INNOCENT PERSON WILL NEVER HIDE FROM ANY ONE BUT THE GUILTY ARE ALWAYS AFRAID.
@Shadreck,
An individual’s rights diminish with distance from his or her home. When in your home, no one, I mean no one has a right to break in without a warrant. Your home is your last place of safety protected by law. In the US, you get killed ngo leya mpulwa mpulwa pa bene.
I hear a warrant was no served on HH or his representatives.
Lungu and pf are allergic to freedom of speech and the truth. Lungu is a very naive boy who is acting like sata during his last days. Please get him checked
I thought Amos stated that VJ had a closed meeting with the Lazy one!!
This is diplomatic etiquette and not the one coming from the visionless one. Imagine the whole of a president attacking a citizen for showing concern on the brutality of the police. What kind of intelligence does the president have that feeds him with not only wrong infor but hogwash. So to him no one should talk about this militaristic approach to governance devoid of any sanity. His encumbrances are reminiscent of idi Amani whose used to tell his ministers to tell the people to love their leader no matter his shortcomings. Edgar seems to have hit a brick wall and the magnacata is clearly splashed on the wall. Whoever told him to make this move will cost him dearly, watch this space.
We say lungu can not afford to bribe every opponent of his…..that is were he will fail.
Trying to bribe all his perceived opponents means bribing at least half the country….he has not got the resources.
Interesting how Mwaanga is quick to recognize EL presidency when he fails to advise his HH on the same. Now, tell all blind followers who the president is. If you come in such a respectful way as you sound who wouldnt want to have a dialogue with you? Now you want that HH to have dialogue with head of state he has been insulting, what do you guys smoke?
It is like this HH’s recognition is needed to validates ECL’s presidency, hey! What’s up with that, people? People recognize who they want to recognize. Is recognition by force? Maaaaweeeee!
VJ is naive. Up until now VJ thought Lungu is a Statesman who is above board. Lungu is a thug and Criminal President and that is why all his Advisers are fellow Criminals. Lungu was setting up VJ and wanted to get his views on the Zambian situation b4 pouncing on him in the same way Lungu did on HH’s House. VJ will learn the hard way that u don’t give an honest opinion to an Idi Amini- like Dictator. VJ has opened himself up and will be silenced by the Dictator soon.
VJ the meeting u had was just a setup. Wait and see Condemned DeadNBC news how crowns of all colour will be given space to condemn u.
I’m sure everybody wants to know what the two Gentlemen said to each other. Did VJ apologize to Edgar Lungu or the other way?
Or was DoD VJ receive a token?
Or did VJ receive a token?
One sometimes is honestly given to wonder whether its a gift or rather endowment from god for stu.pi.dity Mushota is bequest with or she is smoking or inhaling something strong to behave so headless?
What have I done wrong?
Thanks
BB2014,16
@Mushota fail from a mango tree head first as a child.
Forgive her for all her distractive, erratic utterances.
Surely , VJ is a senior citizen whether we like it or not. He served this country. No matter what we say , VJ has flaws like many of us. He met the President and has respect of the President and what they discussed.
In all fairness, We need not to attack personality . Dialogue is cardinal in life and to demonise others make dialogue difficult.
Cant we for once see good in other’s lives?
Leaders need to show exemplar conduct. Followers must exercise restraint over their leader’s conduct whether good or bad
It is nice to see some upnd warming up to the fact that ECL is a Commander in Chief. Way to go bwana V J and teach people like Nez
fack you biitch no wonder ulibe malepe.manzi fulu mudanana.Elo you stink u got kalukuzyumbu.Whites have resorted to facking you on asss because your pusi cat is myau myau too much because of water.HH is fly the lest of you Mushota fackers is lame.Fack u and your facking biitches,HH is go come back just like Mandela.Fack Chakolwa Lungu and fack you a million times till the day you die.Fack your coffin and your grave biitch
Jay Jay that is what I also ready, that ECL had already spoken to VJ before the announcement.
I hope you were indeed honest with him VJ. Someone needs to tell him the errors of his ways. He is not leading the country into peace but strife. He has turned the police into a PF security wing. This will come back to haunt him.
I love Daniel Munkombwe. Since that slip of the tongue “Tongas must rule ” he’s kept out of public debate. However I implore Edgar and VJ to make peace so that we as country can benefit from it.
just know each other:united you shall stand and divided you shall fall
Ladies and gentlemen the release of HH is eminent…the two are setting the stage for his release…so Mwaanga is the man with the correct,language,attitude and knowledge to handle this one…..
@21 kay1, WHO WILL RELEASE HIM? I have always thought that HH and his supporters claim he is innocent so “HE WILL SOON BE FREED BY THE COURTS”? To that LUNGU has also said “HIS HANDS ARE TIED AS HH’s MATTER IS FOR THE POLICE AND COURTS!” I said it before, IT IS NOT HARDER TO MOUNT AN EFFECTIVE OPPOSITION THAT CAN STILL UNSETTLE PF THAN TO CONSISTENTLY INSULT A SITTING HEAD OF STATE AND STATE INSTITUTIONS OVER AN ELECTION LOSS! THERE WAS NO NEED FOR HH’s BEHAVIOR, a good number of citizens grew weary of it! However, THERE IS A POSSIBILITY OF PERSUADING LUNGU TO TELL THE DPP TO ENTER A NOLLE PROSEQUI to get HH’s release,but if he is unlucky, he may be convicted and then pardoned,and that CAN DAMAGE HIS POLITICAL CAREER!!
@21.1 bwafyaa – Better he is convicted and pardoned – after August 2021.
You will know me as a PF Cadre and supporter of ECL but I found it strange that my President made statements about VJ before meeting him yesterday. I don’t trust VJ but in this instance he was procedurely treated unfairly by my president. That doesn’t make me to support HH or UPND both of whom I have grown to dislike and disrespect. You can’t call a person for dialogue while discussing them!
VJ until now never understood the true character of Lungu. Lungu is not a Statesman and a Gentleman.He is not only a thug and a Criminal but a Dictator in the mode of Idi Amin of Uganda. U don’t reason with Ruthless Dictators like Lungu. To retain his stolen power Lungu will crush all those opposed to his Rule. Lungu doesn’t want to hear of the Petition Hearing Process becoz he knows he stole the 2016 Election and is clinging to power illegally.Lungu wants everybody including the Petitioners and those who did not vote for him to recognize him as President. Lungu is using the Military and the Courts to silence dissent and force all those to recognize him. Lungu’s strategy will divide the Nation further and engulf Zambia into a Civil War. AU and SADC have to tomediate the Zambian…
VJ FIGHTS ON
==========
Now it’s either you were promised a position by UPND or some kind of ever losingHH-government’s advisory role. I ‘m lost at words and still struggle to figure out how you VJ have defied ECZ mandate to govern elections in SP that you engage in massive rigging campaign of elections in the province. I can’t still keep pace with the numbers popping outa SP todate when its clear that in other provinces numbers have drastically dropped. You ka legacy is a bit messy at the moment aisha!
Strange things happen in Zambia. No wonder we are undeveloped
Ever broke
Even Dictators like Mubotu was a commander in chief and President. The question is how did he become a president? Do not force people to recognize you or respect you. Earn the recognition and respect. It is that easy and won’t need to open windows of the presidential car to get that recognition.
You must have been born last year – Mobutu overthrew Kasa Vubu while Lungu was voted for by a majority of Zambians. MASSIVE DIFFERENCE!
This is the Republic of Lungu and not the republic of Zambia as witnessed in the charge against the man HH where every body is to be submissive to Lungu.
This old fossil should go into hibernation. We are tired of seeing your dirty nose. Please find yourself something else to do apart from politics.
How can you say he should earn the recognition and respect when he has earned it by being voted into office as president of zambia, is it not what the constitution say, is it not why HH is being taken to court for not respecting the office of the president? so guys ECL does not need to beg any one to respect him the people who voted for him has already done that and it is a must for you and me to respect him even the bible says so.
I am not UPND but after a careful thought, analysis, research, and talking to all stakeholders, PF is the worst political party in the world. I am judging them fairly and not harshly because I have never quarrelled with them. If you knew the number of countries in the world, then you would know the magnitude of the issue.
Respect is earned
He is not happy that the PF have left him without a role to play in the governance of the country. I don’t know how KK brought up these chaps, they can do anything for a living. RB even engaged that lawyer, Amsterdam, and spent colossal sums of money trying to discredit Zambia. VJ doesn’t do anything for free, even you can hire him. He goes for the side of the bread that is buttered. Somebody has to sponsor his activities, he can’t go round unless somebody is meeting the cost. Big Mambala
Vernon didn’t notify me that chuundu chaitwa Ku state house.
The incompetences at state house are turning us all into unwilling politicians.
We need an intellectually challenging person to lead us, I don’t care whether he’s Unip, Mmd, Pf or UPND. Only he has to be a smart leader with no aspirations to be a despot.
VJ last met Lungu in March 2015 and since then Lungu has been reluctant to invite VJ to State House. Now that Lungu is in a Crisis he decided to invite VJ to State House for Opportunistic type of reasons. VJ should have been Circumspect of the urgent invitation to State House. He should have known that there is a trap in all this. VJ being a Tonga by accepting Lungu’s invitation Lungu has now been construed to mean VJ recognizes Lungu as President. Lungu is now using VJ to tell HH his fellow Tonga to also recognize him in exchange with dropping of the Treason Charge. When VJ says he told Lungu his position, what is VJ’s position? Did VJ agree to mediate between himself and HH? VJ needs to be careful in his dealings with Dictator Lungu. VJ runs the risk of being branded a Tonga sell…
Imwe banthu VJ is not okay, health wise. His body has gone through a lot of beating. That loose life of old has finally caught up with him. He is no longer the man we knew. VJ in his heyday could not have become tribal the way he is now. Something seriously wrong is happening with him. It’s terrible to see him now as a vuvuzela for someone or an invisible force. He is behaving like those Chiefs from Southern province who are being paid by someone to make this necessary noise. It’s sad to see VJ like this. I would like to appeal to Alex Chikwanda and RB his childhood friends not to abandon their friend. VJ is calling out for help to them. There’s more to him than what meets the eye. It’s really sad to see a once statesman now finally end up as a tribal vuvuzela. HH and his cohorts are…
Dr. VJ for the President to find time call you and discuss matters with you I’m sure that’s respect enough to u. Now from what you are saying quote “meeting March 2015…that meeting he had promised me never took place until today.” Have u been living in frustration all this time that the President did not call you early enough? U sound so. Or you were expecting something out of that meeting you had been promised and now that chances are slim of u getting it, oops lashing out at the President door to door S. Africa. You know what, my only advise to you like s/one has already said you are getting old and for u to be having frictions with pipo… The best wud be just b lyk adviser the current crop of leadership frm whichever political party. Act as a parent I’m sure you can gain more…
VJ wants the Under 5 to win but you know that he is immature and unelectable except in Namwala! The president is right! We have seen the veteran politician embarrass himself for supporting a failure who cannot concede loss!