UPND leader censured on tax talk
UPND president Hakainde Hichilema is the wrong person to complain about taxes when he is actually partly to blame following the role he played in the privatisation process, opposition political party leaders have said.
And Patriotic Front (PF) media director Sunday Chanda charged that Mr Hakainde Hichilema’s outburst contradicts the UPND position in the moments that followed the presentation of the 2019 budget on September 28, 2018.
This was in an apparent reference to UPND spokesperson, Charles Kakoma’s remarks that the party welcomed the changes to the Mineral Royalty Tax.
And Third Liberation Movement (3rd LM) president, Enock Tonga said Mr Hichilema should be the last person to complain about numerous taxes saying when entrusted with the privatisation process he disadvantaged the country and sold the parastatal firms at cheaply.
Mr Tonga told the Daily Nation yesterday, that a call for the inquiry on privatisation would be a waste of resources and time as those charged with the responsibility at the time had already shown signs of being guilty.
‘‘As the Third Liberation Movement our take is that we need a broad tax base that does not only target a certain group of people, however, Mr Hichilema is a wrong person to complain about taxes because if he would have done the right thing when entrusted with the privatisation process things could have been better,’’ he said.
And National Revolution Party (NRP) president Cosmo Mumba lashed out at Mr Hichilema for not defending the interest of Zambia but imperialists whose intentions were highly questionable.
Dr Mumba said it was annoying that all the time Mr Hichilema seemingly supports outsiders at the expense of citizens whom he claim he desired to serve better.
Dr Mumba said NRP was scheduled to go for a convention on February 28, this year and challenged the
UPND to follow suit if it was a democratic party.