THE MMD on the Copperbelt has said it would be counter-productive for Zambians to have elected President Banda in the 2008 presidential election to serve for three years and deny him gratuity for the period he has served.
In a statement released on March 22, MMD Copperbelt vice publicity secretary William Wilima said President Banda deserves gratuity because he has served the nation diligently.
Mr Wilima was responding to Colonel Panji Kaunda’s threats recently that President Banda would not get his gratuity if the Patriotic Front comes into power.
“Since Mr Banda was elected directly by the people of Zambia to lead them and he has carried out his duties diligently, he rightly deserves to be paid all that is due to a worker,” the statement reads in part.
Mr Wilima said laws are made for people and because of this fact, unforeseen circumstances are order of the day and laws are prone to amendments.
“Everyone who works deserves to be paid,” Mr Wilima said.
Mr Wilima said as a hard-working person, President Banda deserves to be paid his salary, allowances, gratuity and all other benefits.
He said a lot of people are aware that Col Kaunda’s bitterness against President Banda is just ‘sour grapes’. Col Kaunda has of late been attacking President Banda and his government.
“This is the same man who regretted turning down President Mwanawasa’s request to him to join Government. He was not willing to leave his party UNIP,” Mr Wilima said.
Mr Wilima said Col Kaunda’s “myopia” has been exposed since he is no longer in UNIP. He said Col Kaunda should stop being envious of President Banda, saying power is God-given.
[Zambia Daily Mail]
I would agree, he totally deserves it ..he has not only kept this ship afloat but delivered more value to the Zambian brand. Globally under his leadership Zambia is views favorably by the world investment community and all MMD projects from our development policy documents started under the able leadership of the late LPM have been executed to the letter. He has made Zambia proud and even more to come next year . He deserves it and it is just fair. As a CEO of Zambia he has perfomed and delivered. The numbers are there for all to see.
Please not senseless and emotion arguments from Kaponyas, lets debate facts here.
Why do you want to change laws to suit an individual when it has taken invariably long time to enact worthy issues in constitutions such as 50 plus one for a presidential candidate to be declared a winner. Include it among those issues in the constitution which are subject to change. Just pay him ex-gratia payments.
The MMD on the Copperbelt has said it would be counter-productive for Zambians to have elected President Banda in the 2008 presidential election to serve for three years and deny him gratuity for the period he has served.
Don’t change laws of Zambia to suit one person.Let him declare the elections to match his 3 year term and nothing will be needed to be changed period. Only thieves cannot stand to follow rules!
If you only work for 5 years then why should you be paid for 6 years?
ONLY THIEVES KNOW WHY!
DON’T CHANGE THE LAWS TO SUIT CHILUBA AND BANDA.
BOTH ARE THIEVES!
#1 you are such a ….. numbers numbers numbers,are people on the ground eating numbers? even if you are one of the very few people benefiting from these “numbers”,feel for those people in rural areas and shanty compounds who are in poverty. Zambia has a long way to go and a lot need to change.I don’t support any political party but whatever party is in power has to do their best rather than focusing on misleading figures which have no effect on poor people.Our politicians(may #1 inclusive) are selfish people who go into politics purely to enrich themselves and those close to them.God will punish you
As an election ploy, this business of changing the law just before the nation votes has got to be one of the worst. Maybe I’m dreaming – but how refreshing it would be if RB said he didn’t care about the gratuity for his first three years and just wanted to serve the nation.
Second choice would be to say that he is so confident of winning a second term that there is no need to amend the law and/or would not deserve a gratuity if the nation decides not to reelect him. I bet that would win more votes than jigging the law now!
Serious – they have had 3 years to think this through so why address this matter now just before the nation votes? It’s like scoring an own goal…. on purpose.
No amount of Jealous will stop RB from getting his well deserved gratuity. Who can work for nothing inthis age and era.
You want him to get broke like Panji after 2016. Ati ma rubi.ish
In fact his Excellency does not just deserve gratuity but another term of office because of the commendable job he has shown us Zambians. Viva RB, Viva MMD. Pankolokooooooooooooooooo
Give Ceaser what is ceasers!
Such kind of ubupuba nabwamba nokubelela pa zambia. honestly why should people even start discussing changing the laws of the country just to benefit an individual in the name of mr Banda? its because of this lack of seriousness and failure follw the laws of the land that will continue keeping zambia miles away from the corridors of development. countries like Uganda, Botswana, namibia etc are doing far much better than we are despite the fact that they just got their independences a couple of decades ago.
Anyhow whatever Banda and his cadres will do, I dont care anymore, I have all i need
Number 9 continue ripping where you dint soa
I am not mmd but i think the president deserves the gratuity.
Yes RB should be paid something but should the nation change the law to do this? Common sense suggests he can be paid gratutity prorata ie for the time he has been in office, and this can be tabled before parliament to vote on the motion to pay the current President Gratuity. But we should not change the law.
Our law gallery is now full of some of the most ludicrous laws on the face of the earth, all because of the tendency to enact laws to either fix or appease individuals. Chiluba enacted a provision of making theft of automobile unbailable & all intended to fix a s’e’x’ual rival, MacTribouy, who was busy enjoying canal knowledge of Vera Chiluba, his wife. Chiluba, together with Sata, master.bated on our constitution vigorously & had it not been a people power revolt, they would have eja’culat’ed their vile alien “juice” on it leaving it pregnant with recipe for disaster. Banda has already taken the Abuse of Office provision out to allow him & his to loot at will. Now, he wants to change the law again to qualify for gratuity. Does this guffy lumpen know any level of gutlessness.
SHOCKING THIS NEWS WHY DO THIS BANDA CRYING FOR GRATUITY WHEN HE KNOW IS WINNING,SO HE KNOWS NOW THAT THINGS ARE BAD CHANGE HAS COME VIA PF IF PF WINS DONT GIVE HIM AFTER ALL HE JUST A THIEVES AD CHILUBA!!!!!!!
No 7 and others, Who says anything about the President working for nothing? We don’t expect him to be like Gandhi – that would be asking too much. Unless I’m mistaken he draws a salary and benefits like the rest of us. No matter how good a job RB has done it seems short-sighted to ask for the law to be amended just before the election only so he is sure to get a house and all the other trappings of a presidential gratuity.
…. and one more thought is about Mr Wilima’s remarks that “staying in power is God given”. We may trust that God will lead us to the right decision, but in a democracy staying in power is given by the electorate not divine right! Or should we expect it’s King Banda next?
Guys lets be clear here! The fact that RB does not qualify for gratuity does not mean that he will not get his pension for the 2+ years he has served. For some of us who did not know what gratuity is, i googled it. Basically, it is a tip! Why should we change this law for someone who may be arguebly be benefiting from the fruits of the seed he did not sow? Lets get real!!!
What does the Law say ? Lets have a Govt of laws and not of men. Remember FTJ/ Sata and their non-bailable theft of motor vehicle clause ?
CHABA SHANI BANE??? WHY DIRTEN YOUR MORAL RECORD BY GOING TO SUCH EXTENTS OF CHANGING THE LAW TO SUIT YOURSELF WHEN YOU KNOW YOU ARE WINNING WITH A LAND SLIDE VICTORY?? MANY OF THE CIVIL SERVANTS WHO GOT OUT OF THE CIVIL SERVICE EARLY CANNOT EVEN BE REFUNDED THEIR PENSION CONTRIBUTION!!. SO EVEN WITH THE BREAK UP OF THE PACT THESE PEOPLE ARE NOT SLEEPING? NO WONDER THE UNREASONABLE ATTACKDS ON KING COBRA. WE ARE WATCHING YOU
Ignore jealous socialists still dreaming there is free lunch in this world order. It is utopia to even think that the responsibile people of our Great nation would pleasure in seeing their Commander In-Chief presiding over national tropphy ends this term without Gratuity. To prosperity, the man has steared the ship through Global troubled waters, he has stabilized the country in sociopolitical spheres , restained peace and tranquility besides taking a lot of insults needlessly. I hereby endorse the bill to renumerate his first tenure in office.
I think if the law does not provide for a president who has served his country a gratuity, that law is bad and needs amendment. Give him the gratuity for having served his country. Do not be driven by hatred.
I think this country has really gone to the dogs.Red liped Kunda wakes up decides with RB to change rules to suit ONE mr BANDA and all is in motion.We have to rise up to such stupidity fellow zambians!These people are doing all these stupid things because they know that ZAMBIANS are docile people.We will never change anything if all we do is to trade insults on Lusaka times.LETS ACT!
The end is near. evil and blatant disregard for fellow humankind are rife. God help us
RB does not deserve gratuity.Just give him leave days chapwa!!Does developement mean only surfacing roads in chipata and building schools without teachers,mobile clinics with no nurses or doctors and without medicine?What about roads on the copperbelt,Lusaka,Livingstone,Mongu,Kasama,Mansa etc?In chingola the roads look like rubbish ditches! No drainage,no tarmack,no street lights.Driving there makes one feel very unsafe!.If you go to mufulira now you would think there is no government in Zambia.So what are we paying the man for?
& all these fools supporting this crap are behaving like they’ll even get a cut. mwe.mbwa.mwe. allow RB to change this law at your own peril ba ko.lwe
#1 – Where have you been hiding my brother? RB deserves two things and these are simply his money he worked for and of course another term in the office.
Simple question, are there not enough opposition MPs to stop this bill from becoming law? or like I always say they do not know their job description.
If opposition MPs can’t stop this bill then we should all just simply shut up.
This man has already made more money than the 5 year gratuity through per diem as he travels the world on government sponsored holidays.
He was already aware of this position hence his frequent holidays and attending to every seminar in foreign countries. – Simple.
Sata should learn to concetrate on real issues. Under 5 can educate him on how gratuity works, almost everywhere it is on pro-rata basis i.e calculated based on period served. So it was a big oversight that the Presidential Emoluments Act overlooked the possibilty of a President calling an early election before the end of the prescribed term. Ba Sata the issue of gratuity is a non-issue at the moment, campaign on other issues.
Whats happening to Col. Panji Kaunda? I made to understand that RB is his uncle. Is he attacking him coz he has not offered him a job in Govt is merely politking to keep us spooked yet they are in the same elite ruling class. If RB does not deserve graduity after his term office which will fall short of full 3 years as elections will be held before his anniversary of being sown as President. Then what is supposed to be done. This calls for serious legal heads to interpret. Lets be serious among those that are conndeming the move whichopne of us can accept for working for mahala after the end of the contract. There is need to be level headed. The man cannot postpone elections until his anniversary date that will have serious logistical implications as to when he dissolves parliament and…
ba colonel na besa hot. he is making more headlines than HH
Number 32,
HH is Finished,completely like a rag!
#33 You have nothing to say who told you HH finished like a rag. He is a national leader. One day he will make it. A Thousand mile journey starts with one step. Nothing comings without fighting for it one day HH will make it. Lets encourage each other to move forward not kupasana ma PHD.
Pay him the money. He deserves it. He does done more than the 10 years Chiluba & Sata spent in Power.
Panji thought RB was going to help the Kaunda family lock up Chiluba for their brothers death, the fact that he[ RB ] is somehow related to Mama Betty “Banda” Kaunda
The Kaunda family are bitter and emotional. But, its not doing them any good by going for RB. How can they support Sata.
Sata & Chiluba were the architect behind the notion attempting to deport Kaunda to Malawi. Sata spent years calling KK all sort of names while he was Chiluba’s assistant
This RBish and REDLIPPED Kunda are the most infuriating leaders a country can have! Any serious leaders with a sense of shame on timing would not take such a bill to parly when elections are so close. However, I am not surprised as the first action of Rupia in 2008 was to increase the salaries of PSs, carbinet ministers and his own salary, while the rest of Zambians were wallowing in abject poverty. This same bill he approved was rejected by the late LPM MHSRIP. # 14 Ngombala Muhapi wa Linaha, your analysis is excellent and reflects the moods of most Zambians. By the way all you proponents of this bill, if RBish knows he will win, then his assenting to this bill to receive gratuity after serving for just more than 2 years shows he is a very GREEDY old man!
ba Fikala ba mmd plz give us peace..why do you wana change a law because of a single frog?after a few years out of power you will tell us that he had stolen..so let him work for 5yrs and get his cash……sukiiiiiiiiii!
Why should Rbish want gratuity for a very lousy job of increasing his own salary as soon as he entered state house, single sourcing RP capital to valuate Zamtel through his son, arbitrary sale Zamtel to Libyas’ LAP Green for a cut, removing ‘abuse of office’ clause from the ACC act, making a bungle of the Mung’omba constitution review commissions report and the whole constitution review process through the NCC and frequently flying around the whole world at our expense! The above does not reflect any good job that deserves paying gratuity. I actually concur with # 17 Brian, we do not agree to TIPPING AN EXTREMELY WELL RENUMERATED LAZY OLD MAN! # 20 Senior Citizen, # 30 Wina Azalila and # 35 INDEPENDENT OBSERVER, FIKANDILE, NIMWE MUKALILA! VIVA SATA, VIVA PANJI, VIVA CHANGE!
You people who are saying Banda deserves gratuity, does that mean that the law is not being respected here? I dont care if you think the whole world has become better because of your use.less president, why should we change the law to suit one individual. Chiluba did it on the motor vehicle theft now its Banda. This same law will come back to bite you, Sata will win and after 3 years the old man will leave office and you will be the same people complaining about it. The law is the law and we wont change the law. Let him pay the nurses, teachers, people from liquidated companies their gratuity first. Dont you think they deserve their gratuity? Let the government and politicians at large show some leadership and order the president to pay retirees the same money he wants to pay himself.
This country. Awe.**==
i fail to understand what is happening in my country please pipo help me understand the law is changed to give rb gratuity and the same pipo say can not change 50 +1 because was already delt by ncc . for those supporting help me understand your reasoning. so in zambia the president is more important than pipo.**==**==
You need to be a Lunatic to think Laws are made without thinking. When the minimum service was set at three years to deserve gratuity, there was consideration for all potential outcomes. Please, this mad man does not deserve gratuity as provided by the law. Its criminal to change the law to suit him
People LAW IS LAW. As long as the LAW doesn’t say that if you work hard then you can get gratiuty even if you have served for less than 3 years then RB does not deserve a penny in gratuity. If anything he has even paid himself gratiuty through the countless number of trips he has made this far.
We shall also change the law to fix him and other criminal individuals in the MMD, after all they are setting the standard.
We spent K20 Billion to burry Levy Mwanawasa. Another K7 billion on his factious medical bills because we are told the French Government paid.. The question is: Was there a law permitting such expenditure? Parliament overlooked the law on Presidential emoluments probably because they didn’t want to scare Levy that when he dies soon this is what would happen. Similarly for a President taking over him, they could not say he will take over the gratuity of the Dead President. RB like his MP who win in Bye lections should be allowed to receive their gratuity on a pro-rata basis. Period. After all there is no Law that says Sata should be sent to South Africa when he is sick using GRZ money. For your own information the money spent of Sata’s medical is more than what Rupiah will get as gratuity b
After all there is no Law that says Sata should be sent to South Africa when he is sick using GRZ money. For your own information the money spent of Sata’s medical is more than what Rupiah will get as gratuity but what GRZ work has SATA done to deserve the money?
As usual those who are not level headed are the same people supporting a man who was the chief architect in barring KK to stand, the motor veihicle law that also nearly mutilated the constitution on third term.
This law is bad and can affect anyone. Probably it was made this way to exclude people like Capt. Solo who ruled only for 30 minutes and also cases where there is an interim govt when emerging from unconstitutional cirmstances. It would be pure jealousy and inhuman to deny gratuity a person we hired through the balot box. Hard to believe the level of sinful ritribution among some countrymen.
No. 47 Big Mule you have been working so hard in your life why haven’t you gotten yourself a gratuity?……you fuuul….!!!!….
The solution to the Zambian political and social complications is to purify leadership. So young Zambians, with the help of a few wise experienced politicians, rise up to the challenge, remove all these useless politicians like our shameless grandpa at state house and create a future for Zambia.
#13 is right he can be paid on prorata basis, but a sensitive leader would demand that all reitires are paid first before he pays himself ! Our leaders are just interested in their pockets period!
People why the hell on earth should we change the law to suit one person? We can do better than that.
There are no books in schools, no medication in hospitals, fuel price is so high, Zambians out there have no food due to the fact that food prices are so high, making it hard for an average family to afford to buy food.
I think it is extremely foolish to allow the law to change and suit one. He can wait for his time.
How much more does he want? Our money is what is feeding him and his family and friends. This is different with other countries, for example USA, some Asian and many western countries, the president buys food, cloths and other necessities for him and his family using his own money not the taxpayers money.
Sata stated. “As a beneficiary, you [RB] should decline to accept such a tempting offer, because it will send a wrong signal to the nation and set a bad precedent. This act will create a ripple effect to every sitting President to offer himself a hefty package as the term comes to an end.”
OMG – I actually agree with Sata! What is the world coming to? Although I bet if RB did decline his popularity would jump… much to Mr. Sata’s dislike!
Think about it RB, what better way to show you care about the nation first than to put yourself second? …..or should we instead see a man who sits above the law and would love to have his political cronies vote him financial favours while the nation sits by without books, medicines, roads, etc.
It’s simple – just say no!
He may deserve it, but that is not the reason to change the law. Understandably, circumstances change but where do we stop? Tomorrow, a man will serve as President for 6 weeks and do a very good job, would he be deserving of gratuity? The President is already being paid a salary and numerous allowances for the work he does, and so if that money is not enough, then he should quit the job and find a better paying job. Gratuity rewards length of service. I love my President but I do not agree that he should change the law just to suit himself. Laws should never be made for an individual, otherwise we will have 13 million laws.
William utumisango wakwete pa Chiwala utwa kwikata ikata infintu fyabene tawaleka?
this is what you get when zambians put on their collective envy, phd glasses. the bottom line is that the man has worked for this benefit; whether he has performed or not! this is not a performance benefit; the result elections are going to be his reward or otherwise for his perfomance. just to be clear, this change in the law, though, will undoubtedly benefit rb, it will remain in force for a long time to come and will benefit even those critizing it now! myopic!!
Chwe Chwe Chwe! Pankoloko. The hour has come for RB to get his gratuity which he deserves.
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