UPND vice-president Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba says pulling out of ICC is an escape plan for President Edgar Lungu.

At a media briefing yesterday, GBM wondered what President Lungu was scared of.

“First of all Edgar should ask himself how many years have we been members of the ICC as Zambia? Why does he want to withdrawal today? What has he done that he is scared of and the people of Zambia know that he has done quite a lot, even what he has done today to send the whole Battalion to go and block us, these are things he is scared of, they have sacred him,” GBM said.

“If ICC is not there we will not be scared of anything. ICC controls and regulates Presidents, [because] you know that after office, I will be answerable and I may be taken to ICC and I will be locked up but once that is removed then they will not fear anything. Even Edgar will come and kill GBM, will come and kill [Mike] Mulongoti, will come and kill all the presidents here because he knows that after office nobody will question him, so we feel as UPND that is a wrong path he is trying to take.”

GBM also criticized the use of two million dollars on consultations on whether or not to exit the ICC.

“And spending 2 million kwacha yet our children; sons and daughters at University of Zambia, are only asking for students loans and bursaries which if they put that money into assisting those young men and women, it can go a long way and we shall have more graduates in this country. That is what we want. We don’t want criminals like them. We want more educated people, people should be more educated than us,” said GBM.