PF vice-president Given Lubinda says President Hakainde Hichilema should stop bragging and behaving like an excited teen who just met the King of England but start walking the talk the way his party did.

And Lubinda says President Hichilema’s references to former president Edgar Lungu during his press briefing last week are counterproductive to the growth of the country’s democracy.

Last week President Hichilema said Zambians should be careful when electing Presidents in future because the illegal activities he had discovered under the Lungu administration were disgusting.

But in a statement, Monday, Lubinda described the press briefing held by President Hichilema as uninspiring.

“As a politician and a national leader, I have made lots of speeches in my political life. Conversely, I have listened to lots of speeches. Some speeches I have heard have been good but others have been simply insipid or dead, without inspiring any hope. The other day, after hours of anticipation and waiting, I came across one of the most uninspiring speeches and sadly it came from President Hakainde Hichilema, aka President Bally from State House, whom I actually respect so much as an elected national leader. In my humble view, President Bally wanted to tell the nation that he had a ‘very successful trip’ to the United States where he met Vice President Kamala Harris, the IMF and World Bank officials, including others such as USAID officials,” Lubinda stated.

“Without taking any fire away from Bally as a responsible opposition party, we feel the 18 million dollars he got for Zambia from USAID was probably not worth the praise he gave it. It is good but it’s not a miracle given our overriding needs and his promises. We also did not need such a convoluted monologue regarding the difference between a tea party and a White House party, we were looking for more substance. Instead of once again giving timelines on how his US trip will result into ‘increased jobs’ or “reduced foreign debt,” our President turned his first press briefing into a monologue that did not rise to his poll promises.”

Lubinda said President Hichilema was scared that the PF were regrouping and rebranding.

“President Bally promised jobs but the US report had no good news on jobs for the youth that voted him into office. My advice to Bally is walk the walk and talk the talk, the way PF did. Stop bragging and behaving like an excited teen who has just met the King of England on his first trip to the palace. We need you to create jobs, we will support you, we need you to increase agro products, we will support you, we need you to sell the jet, we will support you, we need you to grow the economy, we will support you,” said Lubinda.

“Also Mr Bally yesterday looked and sounded scared that the PF are regrouping and rebranding, why are you scared? This is a democracy after all. Also you don’t hold a press conference for four hours, as if you are Fidel Castro. What time will the reporters go back to the newsroom to write their stories? Everything else he said regarding logging for locals, shareholding in the mines, is straight from the PF manifesto. Everything he said is something we were already doing as the PF government, so nothing new there. We also found the constant retrogressive references onto President Edgar Lungu who wilfully agreed to a power transfer as counterproductive to the growth of our democracy. Leave president Lungu alone. Act more, talk less next time. Give us results, not stories. Show us, don’t tell us. The youth are tired of promises.”