Mutati-led MMD Secretary General Raphael Nakacinda has charged that United Party for National Development (UPND) president Hakainde Hichilema is a contraceptive preventing national unity and dialogue.

And Nakacinda has questioned why the state is still investigating the authenticity of the New York trip dossier published by News Diggers, while claiming that the document is fake.

Speaking when he featured on Radio Phoenix Let the people talk programme Tuesday, Nakacinda described HH as a contraceptive for good governance.

“I can tell him that at the moment, the rat we have is the UPND. I can describe Mr Hakainde Hichilema as a contraceptive to national unity and national dialogue. Because he is not interested in that process. He is interested more in undertaking a process that will give him as an individual some kind of political mileage. It’s no longer about national unity, it’s no longer about national dialogue, it’s no longer about advancing our democracy, it’s basically about advancing a political agenda. And we cannot allow that. Otherwise if we allow such contraceptives in our society, we will not be able to conceive the idea of unity, diversity,” he charged

“We will not be able to conceive the idea of having our democracy mature to a point where we can differ but still call each other brother and sister. That kind of maturity is what we aspire for as politicians, as citizens. And that will only come when we have objective politicians who have political will to contribute to the development of this country even if it is at the expense of them not achieving their ambitions.”

And Nakacinda wondered why State House Press Aide Amos Chanda did not give conclusive answers to the public concerns over the New York scandal.

“I think today State House is not as open as it needed to be, in terms of engaging with the citizens, in terms of press briefings that we used to have in the past, which gave an opportunity for citizens through the media to interrogate the motives of the Head of State, the vision that he has, and some of the things that he intends to achieve, to explain his thinking. That has not been the case. I think we need to encourage Mr. Amos Chanda to up his game. A few days ago, the day before yesterday, he was on Television and you could see the gentleman is uptight. Uptight because he is maybe overwhelmed by the malice and propaganda and misinformation and half-truths being told,” said Nakacinda.

“But the issue is not really condemning those that are raising those issues. The issue is about really taking up your role and being able to find channels beyond just one or two individuals to be able to communicate the position of government effectively. You have referred to a dossier. Why do you want to make a big issue out of a leaked dossier that you claim is incorrect? Or is maliciously concocted to paint the government black. Why not just say ‘the records are there to show the individuals that travelled with the president, this is what they were entitled to in terms of impress and this is eventually what was spent, this is what was retired’. Why not just answer and give a position and leave it? You want to have an inquiry over speculative information given. I mean government must always be three, four steps ahead.”