PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema will not comment on the alleged audio conversation between his political advisor Levy Ngoma and home affairs permanent secretary Josephs Akafumba until a professional investigation is done to ascertain its authenticity, Presidential Spokesperson and Special Assistant to the President for Press and Public Relation has said.
Addressing a media briefing at Statehouse yesterday, Mr. Bwalya said that no proper investigations have been carried out to ascertain the authenticity of the people in the audio and that as far as things stand, everything regarding the audio in question is hearsay and that the President will not comment nor act on hearsay.
Yesterday, Patriots for Economic Progress president Sean Tembo said that President Hakainde Hichilema must tender an unconditional apology to Zambians over the leaked audio involving his senior Government officials.
Speaking at a press briefing addressed by various political party leaders in Lusaka, Mr. Tembo said when senior Government officials in a very important ministry of home affairs involving the permanent secretary Joseph Akafumba and State House political advisor Levy Ngoma conspire to prevent a political party from fielding a candidate in an election is a very serious matter.
Mr. Tembo said President Hichilema is personally implicated in leaked audio where Mr. Akufumba and Mr. Ngoma were heard plotting to prevent the Democratic Party from fielding a candidate in the Kabwata parliamentary by-election.
“When a Permanent Secretary in a very important ministry and a Presidential Aide conspire to prevent a political party from fielding a candidate in an election is not a Zambia we know. We challenge President Hichilema to come out and clear himself in this matter because he is personally implicated,” Mr. Tembo said.
He said instead of the Government clarifying the issue it has spent all its energies denying the leaked audio.
“What is missing is clear denial from the people involved. Levy Levy Ngoma, Joseph akafumba, Vice President Mutale Nalumango President Hichilema are all involved. None of the four people have denied the authenticity of the audio. We take it that the audio is authentic,” he said.
“We demand that the President tender unconditional apologize to the Zambian people,” Mr. Tembo said.
Speaking at the same event, Democratic Party president Harry Kalaba said that President Hakainde Hichilema has no appetite to deal with corruption in his administration.
Mr. Kalaba said Zambians were expecting President Hichilema to deal with the fertilizer scandal involving his close associate and husband to Minister of Information and Media Chusi Kasanda.
He said the fight against corruption in the new dawn Government is selective and targeted at ministers and members of parliament in the former ruling PF and that Government is using Law Enforcement Agencies to fix political opponents.
“The fight against corruption is one-sided. Law Enforcement Agencies are heavy-handed when serving personal interests and causing damage to private property. The fight against corruption is vengeful against persons in the opposition,” Mr. Kalaba said.
“UPND is using state institutions to fix political opponents and they are holding a vendetta emanating from the time they were in opposition heavy-handed. This is time to fix problems and improve the living conditions of Zambians. UPND has no appetite to fix corruption in their own regime. The fertilizer scandal is a case in point,” Mr. Kalaba said.
And Mr. Kalaba said Police Inspector General Remmy Kajoba is extremely lenient on UPND cadres and harsh on the opposition.
“Selective justice is on the rise under the UPND. They arrested Nakachinda for proposing violence while campaigning in Kabwata and left Gilbert Liswaniso the UPND national youth chairman for threatening violence,” Mr. Kalaba said.
People Alliance for Change PAC president Andyford Banda charged that President Hakainde Hichilema should discipline Gilbert Liswaniso, the UPND national youth chairman for threatening violence.
Mr. Banda said Zambians should not allow the UPND to turn into a monster and that the issue of violence should not be ignored adding that the Inspector General of police Remmy Kajoba should step down if he has failed to contain violence.
Mr. Banda further said that the UPND is trying to undermine the opposition in the country and that the issue of cadrelism which the UPND campaigned against is still rife under their administration.
“Zambians voted for change and didn’t want to see cadres. UPND is perpetuating cadrelism. Opponents are being attacked in Kabwata. Six months of UPND in Government and we are still talking about cadres and it will soon be a full-blown crisis,” Mr. Banda said.
“We can not afford to ignore these things. UPND is complacent hence saying there is no opposition,” he said.
This is a fail. He should issue a statement! Obviously, the next step from the government now will be that the audio is not authentic, and when (when not if) they claim that, they will sanction KBN. Sanction or pay off the company.
HH should have been one of the first people to issue a statement, he should have stated, “if the audio is proved to be factual, I will take disciplinary action, I will not tolerate such actions, until such a time, we await”.
But no, he is waiting for the audio to be proved fake so they can complain about the media.
This is nonsense Zambia has bigger issues like foreign debt,poverty,better housing and healthcare.
I really cannot understand this. Is DP a big political party for the UPND to be afraid of? I smell a rat
Is that issue for Sean Tembo in Botswana resolved because I have never ever heard of any media house in zambia interview him to get his side of the story and then verify it with the other side in Botswana, but mostly see him being covered on everything he says on president HH which I am sure these media houses loves to hear but most Zambians hate to hear and see, because its not everything that a person does which is bad or wrong even if umwana takwata snano ku school he or she can not fail to get a mark in all the tests unless otherwise but Sean Tembo does not see that in one of the great person he hates so much. But olo eslioata umuntu tefyo yaba even when he knows that him is a fusilier because of the zeroes he gets but doest see that but surely umunda mucalo like jaobdes say. This…
Is it true or is it not true? If I didn’t say it I will definitely say I didn’t say it therefore it’s not true….. but if there’s just a minute of inkling of truth I will not comment until I go over it so that I can know how to answer in defense.
Checks and balances…pa ZED !!!
On one hand the audio has to be analyzed whether it’s authentic or not on the other hand the reporter and station owner are arrested. Why arrest someone over something that has to yet be proved whether it’s authentic or not? Talk of putting a cart before a horse…
Secondly, have Police questioned Levy and Akafumba? Have they denied or not? If they have not denied why then analyzing the audio, if they have denied and later it is proved that it’s their voices, they’ll have lied, and what then would be the consequences of lying?
Me like; lol…who does that?
Kalimanshi be like: A great elaya muntu wandi.
Iwe Anthony, how can BMW comment when he is directly implicated? The audio is very clear does not even need expert analysis. You are very good at doing dirty work for BMW. Ukachinje ne shina, ulensebanya.
HAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHA
Pa Africa we’ve got a long way to go to grow our democracy. for now let’s just keep up with the “fake in fake out” kind of politicians! Meanwhile, let’s not forget developing ourselves at personal level beside our political commentaries..
Yada yada yada… all I can say to this.
What I want to remind you about is that as long as you’re in a public office it means everything that you do is in the public domain. Some of us know how special assistants work, so listening to that audio was a sad moment for some of us but we weren’t surprised. We have made our own conclusions. We have advised Bally to concentrate on governance, that’s what will write his legacy. The earlier he heeds that advice the better.
I told you these are under 5s. Ka Anthony I told you to come for training. You want bamba you wanna chill with the big boys and yet you are a small fish
Where is the audio
I concur with Anthony Bwalya that Mr. HH should not respond to hearsay matters. Although the recordings happen to be genuine, the contents were said by other people not the alleged target. What exactly legitimizes an alleged link between the hearsay evidence and the targeted person? The law regarding recorded evidence is tricky and difficult to interpret. Sean Tembo, draw a line between what is seen and heard.. He said and I said is not evidence. and, this is exactly what you have provided. As Mr. Bwalya indicated, the question of the genuineness of the recordings must be cleared through finding out if the contents were said by the alleged participants. Alternatively, questions must be put to the alleged participants and inform all stakeholders the events, which led to the alleged…
Conman at best, caught hands down. He is hoping for people to forget about it.
umulandu taubola