‘Public attacks on ex-President Lungu unwarranted’, Kabimba advises Hichilema to respect rule of law

President Hakainde Hichilema should be sincere and stop maligning his predecessor, Edgar Lungu, by claiming that he refused to hand over power.

This allegation has been made by leader of opposition party, Economic Front, Wynter Kabimba, who said that President Hichilema had a tendency of prejudicing his predecessor and building a ground swell of hate against him.

Kabimba said when the allegations of refusing to hand over power emerged, he spoke with the former president, Edgar Lungu, who said he had no intention of refusing to hand over power.

He said Lungu’s statement was collaborated by former President Rupiah Banda before he passed on.

“I spoke to Edgar and he gave me his version of the story of what transpired in that meeting and he met the late President Banda before he died and his vision of the story confirmed that there was no resistance to hand over power.

“The President lies through his teeth on the public podium. The only person I never spoke to who was in that meeting was the President of Tanzania Jakaya Kikwete but rest confirmed that the issue of resistance was neither here nor there,” Kabimba said in an interview with journalist on Friday in Lusaka.

Kabimba said if Lungu did anything wrong the President should let the due process of the law take its course than vilifying him at every podium he stood.

“Am not a defender of Lungu but a defender of justice, I hate the injustice being inflicted on him,” he said.

Kabimba said Lungu had no intention of coming back to lead Zambia and that Hichilema should not feel intimidated about him making public appearances.

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He said Lungu had every right to live in Zambia and enjoy all the privileges like any other citizen and those rights were not conferred on him by the UPND government but by the constitution of Zambia.

Kabimba said Lungu had a right to go and worship wherever he wanted and the congregations where he went had a right to ask him to say something as a citizen and that should not intimidate the UPND.

“President Hichilema was trying to divert attention of the people from the failure of the UPND by bringing in Lungu. What Mr Hichilema said on the Copperbelt against Mr Lungu was lowering the maturity levels of the office of the President,” Kabimba said.

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