UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema has appointed of the opposition party’s former national chairperson Mutale Nalumango as his vice-president.

And Hichilema says there will be no stealing once is in power, adding that people who work for their money do not dish it out the way PF officials are doing.

During a press briefing, Tuesday, Hichilema announced that Nalumango had become UPND’s first female vice-president.

He said together, they made a strong team to reunite Zambians.

“Many decisions have been made and in accordance with our provisions of the constitution, a decision has been made. Many decisions have been made in consultation with many inside and outside the party but today, we are only announcing one decision, the rest will come, we don’t have to call a press briefing but today’s announcement is very important because the vice-president in the name of Madam Mutale Nalumango has been appointed. I want to congratulate Madam Nalumango, you deserve it. I know you got the role and we form a team first and foremost, to reunite our country and then we can rebuild our country and we will have to depend on the rest of the other colleagues across the country. We want to show the people of Zambia that we can bring them together. The ugly things I see when somebody was addressing a meeting in Chipata, talking about marginalising certain ethnic groups from leadership, buwelewele bulya (that is madness),” Hichilema said.

And charged that the money which PF members were dishing out was stolen.

“Let me just comment on the people dishing out cash and bribes all over the show. I ask you a question, those fellows you know them, before they went into the PF government five years ago, did they have capacity to dish out cash? So where have they found the cash? The economy has declined from six percent to minus four percent, where have they found the money? It is stolen money, there is no doubt about it, it is stolen money. This is alien culture to this country because they will spoil your children, they will start stealing from your bedroom very soon because they think that your bedroom’s bank account, is a bank vault. You are destroying the moral fibre of our country. People who work for their money never use it that way, never,” he said.

“I am even encouraging thieves now, steal from them, yes that’s your money. Steal from these PF ministers who are getting money, Honeybee, steal from them then you give to your neighbour so they can buy mealie-meal but when we come in, there will be no stealing.”

He urged citizens to collect the money and even ask for more because it was crumbs from the “stolen bread”.

“Since we know it’s not their money, here is my advice to the people of Zambia, take the money, when they offer it to you take it. They offer you tuma K100, tell them you have 20 voters in the family, can they give you K10,000. They give you that you say no, naibala neighbour, ndine controller wa area ino, nipase K20,000. Ndiye bo nyankula abo, muba nyankule (I have forgotten the neighbour, I am the area controller, give me K20,000. These are people to remove, remove them). Take the money, take the buses. Honestly, where does anyone who had nothing before they went to government can dish out these things, buying minibuses for friends? Don’t misunderstand me, we want to teach the people of Zambia how to fish, how to farm, then they can have mealie meal everyday and they can fish everyday rather than only giving them in the last two months before the elections, manje ndalama zinalikuti apa ponse? ndiye bo nyankula abo (where was the money all along?). So take the money, take the buses, take the gifts, take whatever they offer you and ask for more, that’s my message to the people of Zambia. They give you crumbs after stealing your bread,” he said.

He wondered why the Head of State would opt to give students a bus rather than meal allowances.

“Instead of giving students a big bus, we will give them back improved BCs, improved meal allowances, a bus to go where? In this COVID-19, to go where? We should also understand the environment. But a better meal allowance, a better BC will enable them to focus on their studies, books, text books and other things,” Hichilema said.

Meanwhile, Hichilema said that no amount of hatred and brutality would derail the UPND.

“No hatred, no brutality that can distract us from this agenda. You can go an brutalise innocent in-laws of HH and by the way, that kitchen they are showing as my in-laws house, that is a village grass thatched kitchen which has the best ventilation and there are chicks in that house they are showing there. My wife’s cousins who are her uncle’s children live in a better house, just next door, but someone chose to put that as the house and make noise. My mother in law lives in the village, in a house which is self-contained, waterborne toilets and a shower, everything. She is a rancher herself at 90, give her credit,” he said.

“I have asked my wife to go and visit her cousins, she will take some media then she will hope over about 10 kilometres from there and visit her mother and we can take footage of her house, but is that what we want to spend time on?”

And in accepting the appointment, Nalumango said the position was for everyone but she was only there because someone needed to be in the seat.

“I was listening to you Mr President when you said you didn’t celebrate, you look at my face , I don’t know what you see, you will probably see a blank because that’s exactly how I feel. This is not failure to appreciate all of you Zambians that have supported the cause. For me, it is the cause. This is not Nalumango’s position, this is our position except somebody has to sit in this Chair. I don’t know whether to say fortunately or unfortunately it falls on me. I will not deny Mr President, I accept the responsibility,” said Nalumango.