Bwana Mkubwa PF member of parliament Dr Jonas Chanda says President Edgar Lungu cannot always look out to greet Hakainde Hichilema whenever they are in the same vicinity because he has protocols to follow.

And Dr Chanda has cautioned Zambian voters not to allow people like UPND vice-president Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba anywhere near the echelons of power, saying the former Defense Minister’s allegations against people from Eastern and Luapula Provinces whom he branded as thieves, disqualifies him for national leadership.

Speaking when he featured on UNZA Radio’s Lusaka Star programme, Monday, Dr Chanda asked UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema to stop overrating his worth.

“The President is the President, so if Mr HH really wants to greet President Lungu, does he expect the President to leave all the protocols and the security to start looking for HH in the Church somewhere? It can’t happen! Why can’t HH walk to the President? We only have one President in the country, just in case people don’t know. There can only be one President, and like President Sata used to say ‘on a toilet seat there’s only one person who sits there at a given time’. So leave the President to govern and recognise him. It is these same people who don’t recognise the President who expect to be greeted by him. But why not walk over to the president? You think the President will say no to a greeting?” Dr Chanda asked when a caller wondered why the two rivals did not greet each other at Mama Chibesakunda Kankasa’s requiem mass.

“And I remember at St Ignatius about two years ago during President Sata’s memorial, we saw pictures of President Lungu greeting HH. So these are the petty politics we are talking about of who didn’t greet who. Let us measure ourselves according to our true worth. The President greets everyone, including the cadres and all of us. But if you think you are more important than the president and that he has to look for you [to greet you], those are delusions of granger, you are deceiving yourself.”

Dr Chanda also wondered why the UPND had started to love late President Michael Sata so much after his death.

“It surprises me that UPND now is praising late President Michael Sata. When President Sata was alive, who insulted him the most? It’s the same people, they called him a dictator and insulted him to the grave. Now today the same stones that they threw at President Sata, they are putting now on his tombstone, they are the Chief mourners today. But President Sata is not hearing your praises, he should have heard them when he was alive. That is why some of us who worked with him closely appreciated him when he was still alive. So don’t try make him a saint now or show that you love him more than us. We don’t want that kind of hypocrisy,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dr Chanda warned that GBM would divide the country if his party was given a mandate to run Zambia one day.

“I don’t know if Mr GBM has done a scientific analysis. But what he said is an example of irresponsibility because once you start dividing people by tribe, then you are just dividing the country. Corruption knows no race, it knows no colour, it knows no tribe. Yes there may be a few bad elements in Eastern and Luapula Provinces but there is nothing like collective guilty. If 100,000 Naziz kill 600 Jews, ou cannot say ‘all Germans are devils’. There are good Germans and there are also bad ones called Naziz. So I don’t believe in that kind of generalisation because if one Bemba does something wrong you cannot blame all the Bembas or if one Tonga person does something then you say ‘all Tongas are like that’. So that collective guilty is irresponsibility of the highest order and we don’t expect that careless talk from a national leader like GBM or any other national leaders by the way,” he said

“If Mr GBM and his party are aspiring the rule the country one day but already insulting the people of Eastern and Luapula then how are they going to govern? What are they going to tell them? I think he owes the people of Eastern and Luapula apology. He can provide evidence if he has the people from Eastern or Luapula or anywhere who are corrupt, he can take the evidence to ACC or wherever he has to take it. But to insult all the Easterners and those from Luapula is mark that he (GBM) is already disqualified for national leadership. He is coming to divide the country with his party. As Zambians we should not allow such leaders near the echelons of power because they will come and destroy the country.”

Meanwhile, Dr Chanda asked Mazabuka member of parliament Gary Nkombo and his Kafue counterpart Mirriam Chonya to openly say what they think about the Kafue – Mazabuka road, now that government has started working on it.

“The MPs for Mazabuka and Kafue were busy making noise in Parliament when the Kafue-Mazabuka road was in bad state. But today the road is being worked on and they are quiet. I challenge honourable Nkombo and honourable Mirriam Chonya to make a comment the same way they were making the noise on how they are neglected and how bad it is. Even honourable Mwiimbu used to say that ‘we the people of Southern province feel segregated’. But the PF doesn’t segregate. We look at the country as one, we are not dividing the people at all,” said Dr Chanda.