Republican President Michael Sata has publicly told off Zambia Air Force commander Eric Chimese for raising “a security concern” over the encroachment of land at airstrips in the country.
President Sata dismissed Lieutenant General Chimese’s concern as unserious and deserving no attention.
President Sata told the ZAF top officer to concentrate on highlighting serious issues that affect the air force instead of paying attention to the encroachment of airstrips land.
Lt Gen Chimese had earlier complained to President Sata that councils have encroached on land on some airstrips thereby posing as a security risk.
Qfm reports that this was during the commissioning and wings parade of 167 officers at the ZAF Livingstone air base in Livingstone.
President Sata instead accused the military of encroaching on their own land saying it is very unusual for anyone to encroach on military land and told the air force commander to leave the councils alone.
He, however, asked Lt Gen Chimese to direct his energies towards what he termed as important issues such as inadequate air transport for troops, military personnel and disaster management.
President Sata said that it will be pointless for ZAF officers to be getting paid huge sums of money when there is no equipment to advance their operations.
Lt Gen Chimese had also complained of shortage of accommodation for personnel.
President Sata arrived at livingstone’s Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula international airport at 09:10 and was received by defence minister Geoffrey Mwamba, provincial minister John Kufuna, defence and security chiefs and other senior government officials.