Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) president Edith Nawakwi has said that United Party for National Development(UPND) leader Hakainde Hichilema should should not think Zambia is nothing without him.
Speaking when she featured on Hot FM’s ‘Hot seat programme’ Ms Nawakwi said that Mr.Hichilema is a ruthless, violent and greedy man determined to obtain wealth at all cost, charging that her experience with Mr.Hichilema depicted a man who was violent, brutal, tribal and lacked respect for his colleagues in the opposition and was unfit to be leader of Zambia.
Ms. Nawakwi further said that Mr.Hichilema lacked humility and regarded everybody else with contempt and reminded Zambians that the UPND leader unleashed violence on her, over political differences they had when 3 political parties, UNIP, FDD and UPND came together in 2006 to form an alliance called United Democratic Alliance (UDA), adding that previous presidents from Levy Mwanawasa, Rupiah Banda, and Michael Sata tried to court him but Mr.Hichioema lacked humility and was full of himself.
“There are people, even in the Bible, who think, when they have money, no one else matters and everyone is useless. This idea of thinking that you are the most intelligent and no one else has brains, I think that is self-defeating”, Ms Nawakwi said.
“HH must learn that building bridges and making relationships is important in politics. Each time UPND makes statements to talk about me it’s either, No Nawakwi is going to be a Minister of Finance for Lungu, No Nawakwi has now defected, I have even been appointed by websites such as Koswe, but this is in their attempt to bring others down, this should stop,” Ms Nawakwi said.
Ms Nawakwi further said that Mr Hichilema should not get angry when Zambians ask him how he amassed his wealth. Ms Nawakwi said that Mr. Hichilema benefited from the privatization assets as a consultant and ended up owning many assets he was entrusted to sale such as those belonging to Lima Bank and that he obtained the house belonging to Lima Bank situated on Serval Road, Kabulonga, from an entity, Lima Bank, that he was privatizing. Ms Nawakwi further said that Mr Hichilema also obtained state ranches that he has tasked to sell, including the sale of Musio-O-Tunya Intercontinental Hotel sold at $6million, a Hotel valued at more than $26million at the time, and became a Board member and part-owner Sun International.
Ms Nawakwi said that Mr.Hichilema is lucky not to have been probed by law enforcement agencies and therefore, should not start to vilify her and saying she was sleeping when the privatization of public assets was going on, adding that Mr. Hichilema should have declared interest in some of the asserts he privatized on behalf of the government.
“He said I was sleeping, thieves come when you are sleeping, that’s why they break in and come with guns. However, the very next day we had finished the transactions on Intercontinental hotel and it had moved to be Southern Sun Hotel, Mr.Hichilema became the chairperson of the new owners isn’t that conflict of interest, what is wrong is that the very next day he became part and parcel of the people who had bought the assets and he didn’t declare that he would have an interest in the Hotel,” Ms. Nawakwi said.
Ms Nawakwi further charged that the conduct of Hakainde Hichilema during the privatization exercise bordered on theft of public resources and that he is lucky he has never been arrested so far. Ms Nawakwi charged that Mr Hichilema should not stretch his luck too far as one day he will be made to account for the theft he allegedly committed.
She said as a Managing Partner at Grant Thornton, Mr Hichilema used his position as an adviser to the Zambian government during the privatization period to enrich himself.
In response to Mr Hichilema’s call that she and other lawyers who participated in the privatization exercise should explain their roles. She said the mere fact that Mr Hichilema sold himself a House in Serval road in Kabulonga and ended up as Chairman of Sun Hotels, the hotel chain that bought off Intercontinental Hotel in Livingstone confirms that he is thief.
“When I was Agriculture Minister, we engaged Grant Thornton as receivership manager, we were expecting a receivership report but we ended up receiving a liquidation report. What Hakainde should explain is how he ended up acquiring a Lima Bank House in Serval road where he lived until he moved to Lusaka East without any public bids for the sale of that property was engaged. That is theft of public funds,” Mrs Nawakwi said.
She added, “secondly, Grant Thornton was engaged to handle the sale of Intercontinental Hotel in Livingstone which became Sun Hotels. We asked Mr Hichilema whether the 6 million dollars offered was a good prize and he told us it was a good price and the following day, he became a Board Chairman of the same Hotel. That is conflict of interest and that is theft.”
The FDD leader said Mr Hichilema should also be questioned over the handing of the RAMCOZ in Luanshya receivership. She revealed that Mr Hichilema’s Grant Thornton was paid 10 million dollars for the RAMCOZ receivership which has not even benefited the local miners. Mrs Nawakwi said because of stealing from the government, Mr Hichilema has now amassed millions of dollars in offshore accounts.
“One day, the law will visit him. He shouldn’t think he is very smart.”
“There are further stories, you talk of RAMCOZ on the Copperbelt, these are issues people want HH to clarify, she said, before adding that the UPND leader should explain at what point he became a millionaire and started to have money in foreign accounts.
“They were the receivers, they should explain to say this is what we did, this is how we got our money and this is where we got the millions from. Prior to privatization how much money did HH have, he should say that, prior to him moving to Sable road where was he living, what was the value of the house he got from Lima bank,how much did he pay,was the bid advertised, was it solicited bid within their firm, all those issues need answers.”
