GOVERNMENT says there is no need to apologize about a comment made by President Edgar Lungu that “6 out of 10 thieves were Bembas”.
Presidential spokesperson Amos Chanda said there was no need for the president to make any apology because he made a joke in his comfort zone.
Mr. Chanda said if the president had made the comment about any other tribe other than the Bemba, then he would have explained himself to the nation.
“President Lungu is an Easterner and made a joke about his tribal cousins, so there was no need for him to start apologizing, his joke meant no harm and there is nothing wrong in joking as cousins,” Mr Chanda said.
Mr. Chanda said the president and the custodians of the Bemba heritage enjoyed a healthy relationship and that was evident for all to see.
He advised people trying to gain political mileage by the president’s jokes to stop because the truth was there for all to hear.
Mr. Chanda also explained that the President’s reference to Chinese people as cockroaches was merely a figurative explanation to emphasize the fact that Chinese nationals could survive in any hard situations.
He said some of the problems experienced were exaggerated because the Chinese were the largest number in the world.
Presidential spokesperson explained that the Chinese leadership found no malice in the President’s comments because the context in which everything was said was clear.
Mr. Chanda said people were trying to fight the Chinese by politicizing everything said by the president in attempts to weaken the relationship the two countries enjoyed.
Meanwhile, former MMD National Secretary Major Richard Kachingwe demanded for an apology from President Edgar Lungu for what he termed an ‘insult against the Bemba people’.
Major Kachingwe has also called on the Chinese ambassador to Zambia to take note of what he called insulting remarks by likening the Chinese people to cockroaches.