State House slams HH

STATE House has said United Party for National Development (UPND) leader Hakainde Hichilema’s quest to run for public office is anchored on tribalism and racism, as well as death wishes for his political competitors.
In a statement issued by Special Assistant to the President for Press and Public Relations, George Chellah yesterday, State House accused Mr Hichilema of cheap schemes to gain political mileage out of a genuine moment of rest for the Head of State.
Mr Hichilema during a Press briefing in Lusaka yesterday urged State House to clear the speculations on the President’s health.
He said he wanted Mr Sata to be alive until 2016 so that he could see the opposition leader voted into office.
But Mr Chellah said Mr Hichilema was a frightened man who had realised that the UPND’s political fortunes had dwindled.
“Mr Hichilema is an abominable leader who craves to see pain and anguish in others with the hope of getting to the top. This is typical of him, he is the proverbial ‘merchant of death’, the man who takes pride in wishing others ill or dead.
“Therefore, his utterances on the whereabouts of the President do not surprise us because when everybody, including himself, were on holiday with their families during the festive season and the Head of State was busy sacrificing by working throughout this period, it never mattered to him,” he said.
Mr Chellah said now that the President had taken his vacation, Mr Hichilema wanted to infuse his cheap schemes to gain political mileage out of a genuine moment of rest for the Head of State.
“We thank God the Zambian people don’t see him going far and have realised that his divisive politics of hate, tribalism and racism pays no dividends and are now shunning him,” Mr Chellah said.
He said Mr Hichilema wanted to disguise his leadership failures through reckless, alarming and abominable utterances over the President’s health.
Mr Chellah has since urged Mr Hichilema to stop being childish and petty-minded.
He said the opposition leader’s attempt to engage the Presidency on trivial demands like whether the President was indeed in the United Kingdom or not, barely 24 hours after State House confirmed the trip, was outrightly ridiculous.