By MOFFAT CHAZINGWA
THE Copperbelt University Students Union (COBUSU) has distanced itself from a story in yesterday’s Post newspaper headlined ‘Students warn of revolution’ and has since warned politicians against using students for political blackmail.
COBUSU president Humphrey Mwenya said the story in The Post did not represent the views of the union.
Mr Mwenya, who was reacting to a story that President Edgar Lungu should retract his statement because it was going to cause a catastrophic chain reaction attributed to the immediate past CBU Students’ Council chairperson Gershom Phiri, said this was tantamount to political blackmail.
“That statement does not represent the views of the union and we are not going to accept as students to be used for political blackmail,” Mr Mwenya said.
He denounced Mr Phiri, describing him as an ‘unknown’ student who was being used by some selfish politicians.
“We would like to warn politicians not to use students, especially this year of general elections, to cause confusion in the country,” Mr Mwenya said.
He said in no certain terms was the union going to utter such a statement when it was engaging relevant stakeholders over the issues affecting the CBU.
He said as much as they acknowledged the problems that had rocked CBU, the union and students in general remained duty-bound to respect President Lungu by not going against his statement.
“The President is our father and that of the nation and when he speaks to give his personal views on matters affecting the nation such as CBU, we have to respect that because he has the authority to do so,” Mr Mwenya said.
He was hopeful that the problems affecting the CBU were going to be addressed soon, especially that they had come to the attention of the President.
He also said the union was engaging CBU management over their suspension and expressed optimism that the decision to suspend them was going to be reversed, as there was no charge such as ‘failing to provide leadership’.