Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) president Andrew Ntewewe has asked President Edgar Lungu to consider asking the courts to put incarcerated UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema under house arrest as a gesture that he is willing to reconcile the nation.

Speaking when he featured on Radio Christian Voice on Friday, Ntewewe said political bickering has put the country on stand still, therefore Hichilema must be put under house arrest in the spirit of reconciliation.

“Hakainde Hichilema was not an ordinary citizen but a leader of the biggest opposition party in the country hence the need to be put under house arrest. Political bickering has put the country on stand still and the President should consider asking the courts to put HH under house arrest as a gesture that he was willing to reconcile the nation,” Ntewewe said.

Ntewewe said President Lungu was the most powerful individual in the country and that he must use the powers wisely.

“What my organization is calling for is for the opposition leader to go through the due process of the law but we as a country should also be cognizant of the fact that Mr Hichilema is a leader with followers. The opposition have an agenda to ensure that the President fails in most areas of governance so that they can use his failures as a campaign tool in 2021. But it is up to him to ensure that he moves away from politicking to delivering on the promises he made during the last campaign,” Ntewewe said.

And Ntewewe said the President was living under the shadow of his late predecessor Michael Chilufya Sata hence failing to admit the challenges he inherited.

“President Lungu found a crippled economy destroyed under the leadership of PF founding father Michael Sata but he has failed to tell the nation the main challenges he found because he doesn’t want to upset the PF support base,” observed Ntewewe.