APOLOGISE FOR LYING, HH TOLD
…UPND leader spread lies against rst family
HAKAINDE Hichilema should apologise to President Edgar Lungu and the nation for the inflammatory and misleading information he had been peddling that the head of State was the owner of the 48 houses seized by the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC), former United Party for National Development (UPND) presidential spokesperson Edward Mumbi has demanded. Mr Hichilema is president of the UPND. Mr Mumbi said in an interview yesterday that now that the owners of the controversial 48 houses had been identified, Mr Hichilema should say sorry to President Lungu for maliciously implying that the Head of State was the owner. “In the first place Mr Hichilema told the nation that the first family was responsible for the controversial 48 houses which are in Chalala. He did not just end there but he continued to accuse President Lungu and his daughter, Tasila at any forum,” Mr Mumbi said. “Now that the truth has been told, the owners of the houses have been identified, and the first family is not on the list of the owners Mr Hichilema should stand up and apologise.” The nation was fed with wrong information and some people had risen against the Head of State and labelled him corrupt because of Mr Hichilema’s malicious statements. “The courage he had when announcing to the nation that President Lungu was the owner should be the same courage with which to apologise to him and the nation at large,” Mr Mumbi said. He said Mr Hichilema had come out with confidence that President Lungu was the owner of the houses when he had no evidence. Mr Hichilema, Mr Mumbi said, should own up and apologise to the Head of State because what he did was denting his name. “He should be courageous enough to swallow his pride and apologise to the man he had been scandalizing publicly,” Mr Mumbi said. Mr Mumbi, a former UPND presidential advisor, said some people were even name-calling President Lungu because of the lies Mr Hichilema had been peddling about him and his family. Last week Minister of Home Affairs Stephen Kampyongo confirmed the Daily Nation story in which the newspaper had identified two civil servants and a Ndola-based lawyer as the suspects in the now 51 houses. The Daily Nation named Charles Loyana, a senior accountant in the Outstanding Bills unit of the Ministry of Finance, his wife Susan Sinkala and Ndola-based lawyer Chali Chitala as the owners of the 51 houses. He build the houses between 2012 and 2013. Meanwhile, New Congress Party leader Peter Chanda has challenged Mr Hichilema to apologise to President Lungu and his family without fail. Pastor Chanda said at a press briefing yesterday Mr Hichilema should tell the nation that he had misled them over the 48 houses. And Zambian DNA spokesperson Spuki Mulemwa says it is important that politicians ceased fire to bad politics.