PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda’s brother, James has said Zambia’s former ambassador to Botswana Milton Phiri is a misguided man who is desperate to recreate the roots of the Banda family.
Mr Banda said in Chipata yesterday he was disappointed with Mr Phiri’s conduct and described his behaviour as shameless.
He said his father Bwezani Banda was not born in Chief Mapili’s area in Malawi’s Nkhata Bay.
He said both his parents were born in Eastern Province and that they were Zambians.
“I don’t know that Nkhata Bay, we have never been there, probably that Milton Phiri can take you to that village.
“It is good that you went to Chiparamba Village and you saw for yourselves our relatives there. You can go to Nkhata Bay and you will not find anyone who knows us there.
“This is a very bad way of doing politics. Surely do you have to go to such an extent to try and discredit someone? What a shame?” Mr Banda said.
He advised Mr Phiri to travel to Chiparamba in Chipata so that he could verify the parentage of the president instead of making false statements to gain political mileage.
Mr Banda also said the media should stop practising what he called “yellow journalism”.
“Let him not hide in Lusaka he should go to Chiparamba and speak to our relatives.
Even you the media you must stop practising yellow journalism, you should have asked this Milton Phiri to bring you here and verify your facts,” he said.
Last Saturday, Mr Phiri failed to appear before the council of elders in Chief Chikuwe’s area to substantiate his claims over President Banda’s parentage.
Mr Phiri, who was summoned by Chief Chikuwe to appear before his indunas, did not show up at the palace and made the traditional leader conclude that was a sign that he had been making false allegations to try and discredit President Banda politically.
[Times of Zambia]
Milton Phiri a loud mouth is dangerous…. Have you seen what has happened to Mpombo
Do not make noise on empty facts….
Have you seen how Mulongoti has gone underground
Much ad i have no problem with RB being President regardless of where his parents originated from but i have a problem of him not being honest to disclose the origin of his parents. This is called FRAUD!!!
We have a lot of Zambians whose parents originated from Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia e.t.c. This is not a crime but lying about where your parents originated from is a crime/FRAUD.
Hope the President will be a little bit HONESTY and apologize for this FRAUD. Let not his brothers come in!!!
Anyway Zambians wants politicians who will bring development, we do not want personal issues.Origins of someones parents is not an issue in Zambia till Chiluba changed the constitution.
I strongly think there is some truth in what Milton Phiri said looking at the blushes he has raised. Rupiah is hiding something. I dont think HH would be worried if some body claimed he came from another country,it would not make him have sleepless nights because he knows all is falacy and false and other people, not even him will quickly dash that out.
dear Milton phiri
How are you this morning. for me and my family, we are prety doing fine. i guess you have watched akimbo & bewildered on how yo message has been received by the well informed and critical thinking oriented zambians. Anyway, my advise is that always do a forensic investigation before publishing sensive information. Dont rush to the media for publicity sake and creating a shortlived nosensical euphoria. am no fun of RB but i gusess facts should be seperated from opinions. Your lack of documentary evidence would make Julian Asange dubb you as ‘an egocentric fool whose celebellum is reliant on peceived temporal remedies of the economic rock bottom you are in and ifact of your own making. Oh by the way sir, would you hapenn to have know when the world is coming to an end?
Comrade RB just continue with your developmental works. Forget about the old inter village movements. By the way, have you started tarring this road connecting eastern province with northern province? No tarmac no votes for you bwana
can we please work than busy talking about who came from where,rubbish like tht.let RB’s parents rest in peace.just VOTE wisely zambians!
RB IS SOUTH AFRICAN NOT MALAWIAN THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE DONE HISTOY WILL AGREE WITH ME PIPO FROM THE EAST CAME FROM SOUTH AFRICA.THEREFORE THEY SHLD ALL BE DEPORTED TO SOUTH AFRICA.
I don’t give a damn whether a good and well meaning leader comez from Mongolia, Shambalakale, Mugubudu or land of the Masai in Kikuyu.
KK and FTJ where said to have foreign parentage and theze allegationz have never been conclusively proven wrong or otherwize. But look at the many nice timez (and some bad onez of course) we have had withe two former prezidents!
This is just a waste of time. Even Phiri himself will have some Malawian blood in him. All people from Eastern province have some Malawian connections, just like all people from NW have Angolan or Congolese connections. This is a journey to nowhere as the borders were drawn haphazardly by our former colonial masters. It is very sad indeed that we are now practising the divide and rule perpetrated by the colonialists against ourselves.
The president did not give a satisfactory answer, he was just waffling.
The council of Elders should give us their side of the story.Do they expect all Zambians to flock to their village for facts? This is an MMD organised council with a view of protecting Bwezani. If the father was born there let them say so. what are they afraid of?
Yes, Banda has relatives in that village but was the father born in that village or malawi?that is the question.Even KK has relatives in Chinsali, some of them moved from Malawi to join him in Chinsali and they all are zambians.But it still remains in history that KKs father was born in Malawi and doesnt deny it like Bwezani
This is rubbish. Why didn’t he say this when he was High Commissioner or when RB was standing for the first time in 2008. This was the time to bring such information to light as opposed to now when he is already a President. Cheap politics of non substance, what a shame to the Phiri chap. We should also look at his parentage
If Chiluba hadn’t inserted the clause on parentage into the Constitution, this debate would be stale. The fact its still there (whether its a bad piece of legislation or not) means it may still be enforced. As a ‘by stander’ I don’t know whether Phiri or James is correct. It is not a question of whom you decide to believe – RB’s father was born somewhere, thats a fact. All it needs is an adjudicator to find and show the evidence. Some of you are simply brushing the issue aside – but will be the first ones to cry ‘foul’ when you think a law that directly affects you has been breached.
# 12, Please stop being a stu’pi’d i.di.ot, there is no parental qualifying restriction on being High Commissioner. If you check facts, it is true that Chiparamba Village is a settlement, not a village. It is more of less saying that “I come from Kalingalinga or Kanakantapa”. Banda has been caught pants down violating the constitution and I just hope for once all these lumpens like Banda’s brother and Chief Chikuwe get arrested for being part of a charade to circumvent the course of justice.
The issue raised by Milton Phiri is constitutional and only a competent court set up by the Chief Justice can hear such constitutional cases. It is, therefore, nonsensical for a tribal chief to appoint himself as such a court!
#15, which competent court? And which Chief Justice? I guess you can read between the lines.
Phiri should not just waffle but urgue with facts. If he has evidence let him produce it or let him take the doubting Thomas’ to Malawi and pin-point the village where President Banda hails from. Period!!!!! Why has he gone into hiding. He is surely a bitter man. I’m wondering how a former diplomat could be staying in Garden compound. 10 years in the foreign mission, he cannot afford a decent house for his family. S.T.U.P.I.D FELLOW. Just keep quite you thought the job in the foreign mission was your father’s job. F.U.C.K. you. Uko kwine bamichonga!!!!!!
# 16… having no faith in the courts of law does not make any chief to have the right to parade anyone on constitutional matters
@#8 Maasai is not in Kikuyu. Both the Kikuyu and Maasai are tribes in Kenya. Or perhaps it was a typal?
Ask any Zedians who were in Botswana during his tenure and they will tell you Mr. Phiri is less than inspiring, to be polite. I am not surprised he lives in Garden Compound. The thing I always find shocking is why Zambian politics is afflicted with these losers. Whoever comes into office after elections should do something about leadership development and more importantly entrepreneurship. I feel sorry for the guy though. Mr. Phiri, swallow your big ego and open a kiosk there in Garden Compound. Your political career is over.
LT this is booklifted from the times of Banda. I mean Times of Zambia
RB and his brothers should just produce their birth certificates and end all this speculations. Calling Indunas, who have been bribed and told what to say, is not going to convince us. Mr Phiri has a point and RB has failed to give a concrete answer. We should not let people breach our constitution for personal gains and let them walk freely.
The same Chiluba MMD is parading enshrined this clause in the constitution and as far as we are concerned,our constitution must be adhered to, whether the clause was engineered or not. So RB should tell us the truth and not make noise through the poor head men.
A jigs puzzle for the judiciary. Its clear that one of Rubbish Bin’s parents was born in Malawi and the constitution clearly says such a person can not stand so lets see how the constitution handles that. And secondly RB did falsely declare that both his parents came from Zambia thus he is liable to prosecution. Yes it is not a good clause but it is law according to Chiluba (RB ‘s henchman) ‘s government by then. Thats why we should not come up with laws just to sort out one individual, they may sort out your sons
one day. Waiting!!
You can not be in higher office in Zambia if you are Zambian.Why are you questing Phiri.Check all higher profile positions are for outsiders.Banda is my relative we are not Zambians kwasila Vote Sata
Bitterness…bitterness will take you nowhere. RB is our president like it or not. Some love him, some hate him…that’s how it goes. The fact of the matter is that as long as you are Zambian, RB is your president…painful truth for those that hate the man. He will stand, and possibly, or highly likely will be for another five years to come. Just let it go, otherwise you will choke with chifukushi.
@ 26 lasa lasa, it is not a matter of hatred or love, it is a matter of knowingly breaching the constitution by the sitting president as a result of his personal selfish reasons and the henchmen who supported him. The constitution of Zambia is a very serious document and the long suffering people of this peaceful and great nation must be ruled by the constitution. If then, the head of state is a fraud, what do you expect us to do? Milton Phiri has already started this discussion and the chief justice keeping quite is not an option. There is need to clear this through a reputable committee and not a group of headmen in Chiparamba, which as we have known is a settlement just like Mpongwe and is not a village. Your excellence, if indeed Mr. Phiri has a point, you are headed for big trouble!
lets ask ba shikulu ba kk may be can no better about rb.
the man is over 70 and zambia is 47 now imagine how long ago his parents were born, what is known today as zambia was not quiet as defined back then as now, how many of you can really trace your great grandparents or even your grandparents orgins to the present day zambia?
some people still do not understand the purpose of lusaka times. i still do not get why people still get shocked when lusaktimes reproduces a story from elewhere because they usually state the source of the article if it is not their own. the point of lt is to provide a forum for us to discuss the current media stories in the country. where written by lt or from other zambian media sources.
@30, the problem we have with LT is that they are pro MMD,we also want them to copy articles which sound anti MMD ie 50/50 kind of reporting.
#16.
You are an intelligent wo/man. I guess you can read between the lines…