THE manner in which United Party for National Development (UPND) vice president for administration Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba (GBM) reacted to Mr Chilufya Tayali over the recording which went viral on social media in which GBM insulted the entire leadership of the Patriotic Front (PF), including the PF founding father – the late Michael Sata (MHSRIP), was very unfortunate.
Above all, it did not convince everyone that GBM was not the one behind the recording. The recording was real and was not pretence.
First and foremost, Tayali of the Zambian Voice is not a Government official to be insulted over the price of mealie meal. Surely, is there any sense in him insulting an innocent person over the price of mealie meal when he is not part of the system?
There was no justified reason in insulting Tayali who is not part of the mealie meal pricing mechanism and neither is he part of the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) or among the millers of which GBM himself is one?
According to the Times of Zambia of April 14, Mr Tayali said the UPND vice president was not fit to be a republican or vice president of an opposition party going by the insults he showered on him recently during a telephone conversation between the two.
GBM has seen that the PF has performed well on all economic sectors in the country and the only weapon he is left with is the price of mealie meal.
But he should know and it is already in public domain that, even the price of mealie meal is also slowly and courageously being addressed.
Mr Mwamba is running GBM milling in Lusaka’s heavy industrial area.
Why would he not reduce the price of mealie meal down to K50 for a 25kg breakfast bag and K40 for roller meal?
If he does that, it will clearly prove that he has Zambian people at heart. Otherwise GBM is just merely fooling Zambians by soliciting votes from them.
Coming back to the phone recording in which he insulted the late Mr Sata, it was just an unfortunate reaction from him.
In our Bemba custom, if you insult me,” it means you have not insulted me but you have insulted my father as well.
In that respect, I challenge Mr Mwamba to tell the nation how much he spent to release Mr Sata from prison.
I am very sure PF members and those who love him even in his death will put their heads together and donate the money so that GBM may be paid back and in that way maybe, our founding father of PF may rest in peace.
If he cannot do that, I earnestly appeal to GBM to peacefully hang up his political gloves and begin to concentrate on his private life because it is very clear that he has messed himself up and I am sure, him being a member of the Catholic community, he has embarrassed the church and as I know the Catholic church, it may not entertain such members who embarrass and contaminate it.
Lastly, I would kindly urge all those who loved the late President Michael Sata, and still love him in his death not to vote for the UPND.
By voting For the UPND, they are joining GBM in insulting the late President Michael Sata.
STEPHEN KALANDE
+260 977 471 866