Veep lashes at UPND, Zambian Watchdog

VICE-PRESIDENT Guy Scott has reprimanded the opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) and the online publication, Zambian Watchdog, which he labeled as “blood-thirsty” for alleging that the country will have a presidential by-election.
Dr Scott said in Parliament yesterday that it was time to deal with the issue, referring to persistent questions from the opposition bench on the health and whereabouts of President Michael Sata.
“It is time to deal with it. Opposition Monze Central MP Jack Mwiimbu paid tribute to the Zambian Watchdog that there will be a presidential by-election. The Watchdog is a blood-thirsty publication. We get stories saying that the President fainted when he took off and ended up in Johannesburg before proceeding.
“If we start supporting such, I would happily participate in providing a comprehensive response to this. We should be mature and respective and not be carried away by online false publications,” Dr Scott said.
This was after UPND Choma Central Member of Parliament Cornelius Mweetwa and his Kalomo Central counterpart Request Muntanga wanted to know whether it was in order for the Vice-President to use the words ‘minority tribe’ during his recent interview with the BBC.
The questions were raised during the 30-minute question interval for MPs to ask the Vice-President questions of national interest.
Dr Scott asked those concerned with such remarks to get his verbatim response of the interview and clarified that the context of his response was not insulting and that he made reference to the UPND as a party that had lost an election.
On the time frame of President Sata’s visit to Israel, Dr Scott said he was not sure when the Head of State would be back in the country.
“I don’t know why you are complaining. Do you want a specific date, but that is not feasible to state the exact date. It is fairly obvious that is open-ended. We should stop this line of questioning,” he said.