OPPOSITION Patriotic Front (PF) president Michael Sata says the PF-United Party for National Development members of Parliament will not move the planned impeachment motion against President Banda in this sitting of Parliament, citing lack of time.
The MPs of the PF-UPND pact were today expected to present the motion for impeachment of Mr Banda following the expiry of the 14-day notice given to Speaker of National Assembly, Amusaa Mwanamwambwa.
A law firm representing the pact, Wynter Kabimba and Company, wrote to the Speaker on July 21 giving notice to present a motion of impeachment after 14 days of receipt of the letter.
Mr Sata said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that the PF-UPND are unable to present the motion because the house will be adjourning next week.
He said the motion will not be presented because the MPs will not have enough time to pursue it.
Mr Sata, however, claimed the pact has gathered enough support from the House to move the motion to impeach President Banda.
“Parliament will soon be rising (adjourning) hence we do not want to be caught up in that move. We won’t be able to present the motion now because we do not want the motion to be caught up in other business of the house.
“Let people not panic because we have the right number of members of Parliament to support the impeachment. It is just that the period left before the House adjourns in this sitting is inadequate,” Mr Sata said.
He said the pact will present the motion when Parliament is sitting for a longer period.
“We are definitely on track with the motion and it will only be presented when the house is sitting for a longer period because then we will have enough time to adequately pursue it,” Mr Sata said.[quote]
But Parliamentary Chief Whip Vernon Mwaanga said in a separate interview in Lusaka yesterday that the move by the pact to defer the impeachment motion to another sitting of Parliament is a clear indication that it has failed to raise the required MPs to support it.
Mr Mwaanga said the motion of impeachment was a non-starter and that the pact is hoping to gather more people to support the move before the next sitting of Parliament.
“This move by the pact is a nice way to say they have failed the intended motion and it is clear they (pact) do not have the right number of MPs to support the motion.
“ They should have known that moving an impeachment motion is not an easy thing and to talk of this proposed motion is meaningless because they do not have solid reasons to initiate such a move,” Mr Mwaanga said.
He said the pact should concentrate on issues that would help develop the nation as opposed to politicising everything being done by Government and coming up with fictitious impeachment ideas.
Mr Mwaanga said the pact has more serious things to worry about such as the Chitambo Parliamentary by-elections where it will suffer defeat.
“The problem we have is our politicians are now fond of politicising everything that Government does and as a result they have turned to bring up all sorts of issues such as impeachment which does not even carry weight.
“Let the pact concentrate on the campaigns in Chitambo because if they lose, which I expect to happen, the pact will fall off. Let them prove what the pact is made of instead of deceiving the nation.
The pact definitely does not have 53 MPs to sign the impeachment motion,” Mr Mwaanga said.
And Chief Government spokesperson Ronnie Shikapwasha has advised the PF-UPND pact to split because it is worthless.
Lieutenant-General Shikapwasha said the pact is wasting Zambians’ time because it has no clear vision on what it wants to achieve.
He said the two political parties will have a clear vision when they operate as individual parties and not as a pact.
Gen Shikapwasha, who is Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services, said in an interview yesterday from Serenje that the pact was a failure from the start on the impeachment proposal because it has no concrete reasons for trying to impeach President Banda.
“I said it from the start that this pact is going to fail because they have no ground to move the impeachment motion and actually even some of his (Mr Sata) members of Parliament are not in support of this motion because it is baseless.
“Even people in the Diaspora have strongly condemned this move and so the statement by the PF leader is an indication that they have failed to carry out the impeachment motion because they have no solid ground,” he said.
[Zambia Daily Mail]
What lack of time? Is it not just the lack of moral responsibility.
This is a good decision by the PACT. I believe this is the end of the whole issue.
only f.o.o.ls believed such a move CAN materialize!
Surely they must have known the time frame when they were proposing the impeachment? If this is the kind of planning skills they will use should they ever form a government then God help us. Monalisasyndrome I wonder what you have to say on this?
According to Mr. Mwanga’s words: ” Let the pact concentrate on the campaigns in Chitambo because if they lose, which I expect to happen, the pact will fall off. “ This is the usual cheap politicking because the PACT was never founded based on Chitambo By-Elections.
Indeed what lack of time? On an impeachable case? What a PACT ? DO people still believe in this PACT? They give 24 hour ultimatum on Hon Dora Siliya and they Fire Blanks. They Give shallow reasons for impeachment and even have the audacity to say they will table it in parliament within 14 days and the day comes and they go with tails between their legs with fake excuses. How long will they continue lying to their followers. I really feel sorry for their blind followers.
I even feel really sorry for ICHILEMA. Lying is SATAN’s forte and it must be hell on earth for HH. Anyway we win in Chitambo and next stop KASAMA CENTRAL. With this type of opposition INDEED LONG LIVE MMD. MMD YA MUYA YA YA. KUMULU NI LESA PANSHI MU ZAMBIA NI MMD.
Given that the elections are supposed to take place in 2011, and we are already in the second half of 2009 I dont think the pact is ‘defering’ the motion as Sata says – they are actually abandoning it. They should never have started this whole process. I have spoken to a number of people who supported the pact but are now reconsidering their support due to the impeachment process and the way HH has been behaving recently regarding the insults he has been throwing at the president. All in all this is bad for the pact as their credibility is tarnished further. HH should have tried to carve a political niche by himself instead of sharing the table with Satan.
Mr Mwaanga should just go home and take care of his health or did he come back because he become broke owing to his reckless life of multiple concubines. Let him leave the pact alone , they know what they are doing. Perhaps he can advise his employer the President to make good leadership decisions or are they stealing our money together
Can Zambians trust the PACT. Looks like they are scatter brains. They should have planned better. This is incompetence in partliamentary issues. A presidential aspirant should demonstrated high calibre and good judgement.
Are these the brains we can truct with managing the mines, tourism, foreign relations, internal security, the army, the police, the civil service, national health and education? We shall know them by their fruit.
Oranges do not come from mango trees. These guys don’t have what it takes.
If the pact cannot plan effectively for an impeachment, can anyone confidently say they can plan for the economy of the nation.
Give me a break. HH should never brag about his qualifications because from this move, it is clear he does not have planning skills. In business part of the most important thing is planning. Proper prior planning prevents poor performance(6 P’s).
Anyway this was fruitless to begin with. How is the pact going to repay the Zambian people for this time that has been wasted. This poor planning does not happen in the MMD. Due to the proper planning of the MMD, the MMD is going to win Chitambo.
No. 7 there are no democratic elections any more in Zed so what are you talking about 2011. the past two elections were rigged. What makes you think genuin elections will be held in 2011. Look, they planned and strategised saying we’ll let them appear to be leading then towards the end, we turn things MMD President will be at the top and the couning will be over and that will be it. So pliz get it, they have said that they won’t allow the cahange of Govt to the opposition
Decision-making at the highest level such as Presidency often requires making good judgement, especially where facts are scanty or there’s time pressure.
I think HH made a seriously bad decision by joining with Sata to form the PACT. HH’s ability to make good judgement is now questionable. If the PACT fails, it is likely to be the beginning of HH’s downfall. This PACT may haunt him.
Not sure whether we are going or coming with regard to the propozd impeachment. Though there iz no need to celebrate or even say “I told them”, the whole issue should just be let to fizzle out and die a natural death.
Even if the pact fails, at least they would have tried instead of doing nothing. But reasons for impeachment are there: The Dora saga, the hiring of corrupt Michael Mabenga, linking our nation to Mswati whom the whole world knows is immoral, decision to sell our strategic institution Zamtel, spending K68m on a cow when we are supposed to channel money to devpt, increasing their salaries, the mid term gratuities of K450m per MP and he does’nt want to listen to the people who employed him etc etc etc
#11 – Whether elections are rigged in Zambia that is another issue. Please provide evidence to to back up your allegations. What we are talking about here is whether the impeachment process should have been started in the first place and whether the opposition have planned it well. Clearly they havent. Didn’t they know about the time frame before getting the lawyer to submit the letter to the speaker of the house? As regards the numbers, 18 PF MPs had stated that they would not support the pact, no MMD MPs stated that they would support the impeachment process, so how was it going to work?
#6,Many of us want to see the MMD succeed in effectively governing the affairs of our nation but making statements like ” KUMULU NI LESA PANSHI MU ZAMBIA NI MMD” will only invite a curse from the Creator of the universe.I’m sure those UNIP cadres who first coined that slogan now realise that it was a blasphemy to make such a claim.I hope you are not as old as you look cuz if you are,then you are such a loss to the young generation who look up to you for guidance.
#4. Kalembo Kanga. I am on recess. But since you’ve mentioned my name, I leave you with the following ODE;
I have two degrees, I have two degrees
My opponent has none
I am handsome, I am beautiful
My opponent is hideous
I have sexy eyes
My opponent has scary big red eyes
I have a baby face, children mistake me for their age-mates
My opponent is frightful
Oops! Kanitundila ka kolwe
I might as well send it to Mr. Sata
hmmm ba #14,mummy what grade are you doing?
Can they succed, with the kind of decisions they are making or are they just after our money. I pray to our God they don’t sell our Zambia Telecommunications Company. Can they just look at other ways of serving the Zamtel
Monalisasyndrome I mentioned your name because in the past you were for the impeachment process. When I stated that Zambians should be given the opportunity to discuss the reasons behind the process you said it was a funny way of running a country. You have not answered my question regarding the whole process. Do you believe it was justitied and if so do you believe that the planning of the process was effective? Does the opposition give the impression that they would do a better job than RB in the light of how they have handled this process?
Where are all those bloggers who supported this foolish move? I thought Sata had a reputation of ‘getting things done’ – what happened? It is interesting that he does not give a date for when the process will start again in the next session of parliament.
RB 2:0 Pact.
Do we have any serious people in the pact? What a laughing stock. They bluffed about an ultimatum for Siliya and this is like 2 months down the line. Now its this sic joke about impeachment. What a load of nonsense
#17, that is hilarious! It marks the words of a haunted man. I hope he never played juju on his former boss with Mugabe ka. They say imipashi yabantu teyakwangalila! So, if he played tricks and saw his boss to the grave, we shall see it more than once!! Monkeys will urinate, crocodiles will chew shoes, lizards will eat flesh, etc. It will be masalamusi after masalamusi until he also succumbs to the lord. Balalila iyelele, iyelele, tumutwale kumanda. We miss Levy (MHSRIP) and hope Zambia can find a real replacement for Levy mwebantu please but unless we sort out Mulongoti, Teta and other thieves first. Bwafya with politics of poverty. Stay away and enjoy wenela!!!
Fellow Bloggers, Every President who governed our country had a very low opinion of Michael Sata. And they all knew him better than all of us. Kaunda thought Sata could only perform at the level of Governor. Chiluba had poorer judgement of Sata and made him Minister because he negotiated Chiluba’s frequent affairs and settled with Vera and Mr. Mwanza the husband of Regina. When it came to making him a successor even Chiluba refused. Mwanawasa resined as Vice-President because of Sata. He despised the man even after the reconcilliation based on the personal favour of treatment at the South African Hospitals. As for me, Sata remains such a potential danger and potential disgrace for our country. Imagine sendind him to the UN to represent us as a people.
Reality catches up with Sata as he nyelawila himself publicly with impeachment hallucinations
True!
“The pact has more serious things to worry about such as the Chitambo Parliamentary by-elections where it will suffer defeat”. Forewarned
Kasama central PF Pact to be crashed
Henceforth the waves of Defeats at the hands of MMD to sweep the PACT.Any bye-election they will suffer humiliation defeat way through into the 2011 General election.
But Parliamentary Chief Whip Vernon Mwaanga said in a separate interview in Lusaka yesterday that the move by the pact to defer the impeachment motion to another sitting of Parliament is a clear indication that it has failed to raise the required MPs to support it.
Umusiyale fo no malozi! Impeachment talk was just disruptive talk for a haunted man! It is impossible to impeach a President under the current constitution. RB is just a non performer who is scared of his own shadow as he has surrounded himself with Tetamashi and Mike Mulongoti, people who have no clue about leadership but are expert bootlickers. Once RBs empire crumbles, they will quickly shift to leak the boots of the successor and the story goes on for them. They are shameless ticks. Ask Maureen Mwanawasa and how they licked her boots, where is Maureen today? Can Tetamashi look Maureen in the eye? Kwena bootlickers are shameless devils – Am sure LPM (MHSRIP) is turning in his grave every time Tetamashi drives the Minister’s car!! We shall see how Tetamashi and mulongoti end up in…
I think MOST of you are really missing the reason behind this move. Sata is only waiting to see what will happen to the Chief Justice, because that will also raise the issue that Banda is NOT even president of Zambia. The Chief Justice swore Banda in ILLEGALLY. If you take into consideration what happened with Barrak Obama, the Chap that side stuttered on his words and the oath had to be said again because Barrak would have been impeached later on in his term in office, In fact i don’t even know why some of you say Banda is our PRESIDENT when he clearly is NOT.
HH will crumble soon. He will finish like the way Satan fell from Heaven. Time is now for him to leave the PACT.
Moving a motion to impeach RB is like an academic exercise. With the PF Rebel MPs in parliament coupled with the soon to be paid mid term graduity one wonders where the interest of the MPs will lay first. The PF-UPND pact should start thinking of doing other practical things and not bombarding us with all sorts of things. From my little legal understanding, is Wynter Kabimba an MP to initiate impeachment of RB per see. I need advice before I mislead myself. But other wise this not right RB is in charge of GRZ coffers and every MP including the most vocal ones are queeing up for the BIG PAY CHEQUE. The opposition in this note hace lost it all. POOR TIMIMG
Well done.Dont misplace your energy lets develop zambia.
#26 its about bootlicking its about “BENEFITS ” to borrow old Daniel Munkombwe’s words. Yes the men and women are shameless and spineless. But as far as they are concerned its “ALL SYSTEMS TO GO” They shout LOUDER their “MASTER’S VOICE” Even when he sleeping. Thats Zambian politics leaders always want to hear GOOD STORIES TO THEIR EARS.
#26 its not about bootlicking its about “POLITICS OF BENEFITS ” to borrow old Daniel Munkombwe’s words. Yes the men and women are shameless and spineless. But as far as they are concerned its “ALL SYSTEMS TO GO” They shout LOUDER their “MASTER’S VOICE” Even when he sleeping. Thats Zambian politics leaders always want to hear GOOD STORIES TO THEIR EARS.
hmmmhmmmm, bayamba kukolopa manje…
No longer at easy you are right. The gratuity issue also played a part in this sorry saga. Begs the question on Sata’s ability to strategise and how well he knows the parliamentarians on whose support he was going to depend.
The Post is reporting that Sata did not withdraw the impeachment. Figment of the MMD goverment media.
It’s called “premature ejaculation.” I’m sure it is something that should be well known to all people of a certain age like Senior citizen and MMD Bootlicker that it always happens when you marry an exceedingly young woman. Out of excessive excitement, you are bound to ejaculate prematurely. So this is what happened to your preside and the PF-UPND impeachment withdrawal. Lupiya was fed lies and as usual, commented prematurely without bothering to check the facts.
#36 Does that mean Sata will take The Times and Mail to court for misquoting him?
This has nothing to do with poor planning but it’s about strategic thinking waiting for the judicial review in the High Court over the Chief Justce controversy, hence the postponement of the impeachment and also to allow RB entangle himself even more,what with his appetite for corruption!!
impeachment.,which M.P will support this impeachment. animal? Middle term graduity is the big issue,every other M.P is looking forward to receiving.It is ill concived and bound to fall lamentably.