…that’s the only thing HH is concerned about – State House
By Kombe Mataka/ The Mast
STATE House hopes Mary Chirwa will keep the focus and not get distracted from carrying out her duties.
President Hakainde Hichilema’s spokesperson Anthony Bwalya says the President will not comment on the alleged Drug Enforcement Commission director general Chirwa’s phonographic videos that have hit social media since Tuesday.
“She has a job to do. That is the only thing that the President is concerned about. That is the only thing that the Zambian people should be concerned about,” he said.
Bwalya said State House hoped Chirwa would keep the focus and not be distracted to carry out her mandate of protecting public resources.
Featuring on Hot FM’s Hot Breakfast yesterday, Bwalya was asked: “The DEC director general, Madam Chirwa is a presidential appointee. There are videos circulating that you know, obscene videos, that she might be in. What is the President’s position on this? Have you had a conversation with the President yet?”
In response, Bwalya said: “You just said it is an allegation. You really want the President to be commenting on an allegations Sir? It is not going to happen. What is going to happen is I will ask you to look at your window. Look at the people at the Engen Filling Station (adjacent to Hot House]. They want jobs, they want an economy that works for them. That (allegation) does nothing for them. What will do everything for them is what is happening in Kalumbila. What is going to be happening in Kalene Hills today (yesterday) where the President will be commissioning a Pineapple processing plant which has been dead for years. So we are bringing the economy back on track.”
He said the pineapple processing project would filter through to other provinces, including Lusaka.
Bwalya said the President’s pre-occupation was to ensure Chirwa achieves the mandate of fighting corruption.
“The President has given Mary Chirwa only one job. To fight crime and fight crime to the letter. And all those who are culpable, they will be accountable by the Drug Enforcement Commission under the leadership of Mary Chirwa. She has a job to do. That is the only thing that the President is concerned about. That is the only thing that the Zambian people should be concerned about,” Bwalya said.
“She has a job to protect the integrity of your public resources so that they can be used for education, for public health care, social protection, and support for critical sectors of the economy such as agriculture. That is her job.”
The programme host however asked; “Mr Bwalya, production and distribution of obscene material is a criminal offence in this country. If she is the one in these videos, she should be prosecuted. Are you saying the President is not putting importance to that?”
In response, Bwalya said: “No again. Like I have told you, the President will never comment on an allegation. No chance. It is never going to happen. So I have told you Mary’s obligation as assigned by the President is to lead the fight against crime so that we can protect the integrity of public resources. We have a job to educate our kids. We have just delivered on the promise of free education. Massive! We should be proud of that. We need to continuously be able to make money available to put more teachers in addition to the 30,000 that we have already done. We are going to need money to put desks in schools, build more schools, put more nurses and doctors on the job.”
“That will never happen if Mary Chirwa does not do her job or she gets distracted by the sort of things that you are talking about. So we need to keep the focus and we trust that she will keep the focus,” said Bwalya.
On Tuesday, multiple videos of about five minutes emerged on social media of a woman posing in front of a camera while fondling her private parts.
By press time, police and Chirwa had not commented on the matter.