FORMER nominated member of parliament Raphael Nakacinda says he thinks President Hakainde Hichilema is still in shock that he is Head of State.

In an interview, Thursday, Nakacinda said President Hichilema was currently speaking out of excitement but that once that was settled, people would see him for the disaster that he is.

“He is still excited and he has never been in government so he doesn’t know how government operates. He is guessing and trying to behave as if he is still in the opposition. Just wait until he has settled, that’s when you will know who Hakainde is. He is just excited, you can tell. I want to ask those people at the State House to let them write something for him to say and let them manage him, he is talking too much and even contradicting himself,” Nakacinda said.

“When he is addressing swearing in ceremonies, and then it is no longer like a Presidential address it is like you are at the market and then you are telling stories most of which is basically complaining about how he was treated, how he thinks in opposition and so on. He has not yet settled, I don’t think he has even come out of shock that he is now President.”

He said President Hichilema was perfectly fitting in Donald Trump’s script of saying what people wanted to hear.

“Their budget should already begin to implement their policies among them free education, low prices of fertiliser, and low prices of maize. So all those things are supposed to be included. He was saying he is highly connected globally to that effect he will use some of his connections to raise some of these funds. He wants to go on radio here, he is also featuring on BBC becoming a broken record of excuses. So he is not only giving excuses locally but also internationally,” he said.

“I can tell you President Hakainde Hichilema is perfectly fitting in the Donald Trump’s script of the President saying what people want to hear. He is a total disaster and I can project that he will be a total disaster in the Presidency. The moment people discover that he is not going to achieve what he promised and they begin to express their dissatisfaction, because right now everybody is the in the hype of celebration, those of us who are shooting warning shots against this government and the President people are thinking we are doing it out of malice, we are doing it out of that fact that we have lost power and so on. We are speaking on their behalf that in a few months, they will discover that it is necessary to start checking this person because if we don’t, he is going to lead us into things that we have never seen before in this country.”

Nakachinda said President Hichilema’s remarks that he was inheriting an empty Treasury were mere political rhetoric and an excuse for failing to deliver on campaign promises.

“He is going to be representing a facade to the Zambian people to hoodwink them that he is a particular type of leader and that is where we need to watch the act. So he has been saying what Zambians want to hear and in a certain manner creating excuses away from the things that he promised will do. So when he is talking about radio programmes and whatever it is, he is basically a bed for Zambian people to turn and think he is interactive, he is media friendly and all such facade. The real issue is that there is a set of promises that he made and he did state that immediately he takes over the roles of government with his colleagues, they will fulfil those things,” said Nakacinda.

“For example, they said they will provide free education and made those promises on the understanding that he has connections and the way to manage the economy that will enable them to provide free education. It is only reasonable for the Zambian people to expect free education to be fulfilled. He promised he will be able to reduce the prices of fertilizer to K250 per bag and farmers will be receiving 15 bags under FISP. He is playing to the gallery trying to make excuses that he found no money in the coffers and therefore the job is difficult. Those are political rhetoric, there is nowhere in the world where you take over the government and find there is money waiting for you to spend to develop, no!”