Kabimba fell for the trap

Like the power-hungry drone he was, Wynter Kabimba flew straight into the Venus flytrap set by the president’s son Mulenga. The bait which was long overdue was laid on that fateful day, July 5, 2014 when Mulenga Sata returned from a conspicuous “business” trip to South Korea, haphazardly arranged at a time his father was admitted to Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv, Israel. This day marked the beginning of the end of Kabimba.
What led Kabimba into the flytrap was his ruinous relationship with Sata. The imperious Sata created Kabimba in his own image. Sata had stepped on too many toes he needed a sentry to guard his immorality and depravity. He found in solicitor Kabimba the very obsequious lapdog. Kabimba found in Sata a surrogate father. Both known to be vicious, arrogant, and evasive, their chemistry was palpable. Within a short time of their meeting, they cut wrists and mixed blood. Sata allowed Kabimba into his soul and led him into the very dark alleys of his life and entrusted him with his baggage.

After 24 years Kabimba’s loyalty paid off. In April 2009, Sata appointed him Secretary General of the Patriotic Front Party so he could keep an eye on Geoffrey Mwamba, Given Lubinda, Willie Nsanda, and other alienated and maladjusted people who were bent on hijacking his personal party. In August 2012, their blood pact was further consolidated when Sata, who had denied Kabimba a cabinet post, enticed him into the creation of a company called Ilunda Ichalo Investment under the false auspices of the PF. Sata, Kabimba, and Indian investor Imran Merchant were registered as stakeholders.

It can be stated that it was partly due to the creation of Ilunda, a Hilliburton type of business that Sata appointed Kabimba as Minister of Justice in the following month of September. Hilliburton is former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney’s company that has raked billions of dollars from contracts with virtually no bidding. With Kabimba as cabinet minister, Ilunda contract bidding has unlawfully been receiving special treatment. Also, as Justice Minister, the mercurial Kabimba became a dragnet for all unconscionable deals and an interceptor of undesirable complaints and queries.

Further, with Ilunda in the offing, Kabimba became Sata’s closest ally and favorite cabinet minister. Their business relationship meant that they met often. In each meeting Kabimba saw a president declining in vitality. Of course he knew Sata was battling some sort of illness and whatever it was, it was beginning to take its toll. He was becoming pale and was beginning to look haggard.

Mulenga Sata a thorn in Kabimbas flesh

There was something else Kabimba saw; the rapid rise of Mulenga Sata, a neophyte who was sailing through elections unopposed. Having known Sata for almost three decades, Kabimba fully understood the motive behind Mulenga’s easy victories. The covetous King Cobra was at work creating his dynasty.

There was some measure of envy in Kabimba. As a vitalizing force for the party, he saw how easy it was to brainwash PF cadres, most of whose desolate lives he had rekindled. He was their Chief Executive. He rewarded them for every UPND or MMD meeting they disrupted and for every enemy they clobbered or hacked with their Pangas. It is said he sent some to Sudan for militia training. In October 2013, Lusaka District Patriotic Front Chairman Robert Chikwelete revealed that the training was headed by PF Provincial Chairman Geoffrey Chuumbwe an ardent supporter of Kabimba who stocked weapons in a “Kabimba armory” at his residence.

Believing he had secured the support of PF cadres in all vital provinces, his demeanor changed. He began to behave like he too was Sata’s son—Mulenga’s senior and therefore heir. And with Chuumbwe as his lieutenant he began to feel like Zeus, the god of the sky who overthrew his father Cronus. His over the top behavior prompted Geoffrey Mwamba to try and oust him from the party. But as we all know GBM paid a heavy price.
Sata’s surprising damping of GBM in preference of Kabimba showed that no one would break their umbilical cord not even in the wake of the “Fourth Republic,” a clandestine party purported to be Kabimba’s brainchild. There was too much at stake. For years Kabimba had carried Sata’s baggage in which his dirty laundry was kept. In fact when faced with expulsion from the party, Kabimba threatened to open the bags for all to see.
Had Kabimba been expelled, he was going to take us through Merzaf, LUDC, MMD’s covert operations under Chiluba, and tribalism, corruption, nepotism, dictatorship, and rigging in the Patriotic Front. In a nutshell he was going to hang Sata’s dirty linen in public. With this in mind a confident Kabimba silenced those advocating for his removal with a boisterous “only President Sata can remove me.”

In the meantime, Mulenga was worried. At the rate things were going his shining star was quickly fading. “Big Brother” Kabimba was a nuisance. Intending to keep an eye on him and his “armory,” Mulenga contested the post of Lusaka District Chairman in January 2014 and won.

His victory did not bother Kabimba one bit. To him succeeding Sata was a prerogative. In fact the assignment to act as president was overdue. True to his word, the week before the president was suddenly evacuated incognito under the pretext of a working holiday to Israel he handed over the instruments of power to Kabimba to the dismay of Mulenga, “uncle” Chikwanda, Edgar Lungu, Chishimba Kambwili, Jean Kapita and other cabinet ministers who despise him.

Acting President Wynter Kabimba

Now, modus operandi requires that the president meets and confides in the person he appoints to act. In this case as ill as Sata was, he met with Kabimba, and like has always been the case since their LUDC vows the two had a tête-à-tête, only this time it felt like a dying father handing over power to his son.

Prior to their meeting it was rumored that a Mmembe-led cartel was intending to replace Sata with Kabimba in the event he expired, and that Mulenga would be rewarded with a cabinet post. Whatever machination Memmbe and his gofers had in mind, Kabimba who never let scruples get in his way had his own agenda. In as far as he was concerned Sata had just appointed him Zambia’s sixth president. On June 22, 2014, he undertook his duties as head of state.

With Sata battling illness, the country attention shifted to Acting President Wynter Kabimba. Heretofore, The Post newspaper would become his mouthpiece. Kabimbas supporters, including Guy Scott, would be responsible for campaigns around the country. The “armory” would be replenished and “Lieutenant” Chuumbwe, who already had a taste of violence, would be promoted to a full general, and a vigorous gory campaign would be launched to win Kabimba a full two terms.

Mulenga felt his critically ill father had been duped and the dynasty was perilous. At the Lusaka District cadres were rending a deaf ear to him. Some were convinced his father was gone for good—the Sata legacy was over. They were determined to reverse all the “unopposed” votes accorded him, accuse him of “riding on his father’s back” and null his mayoral election. Scott rubbed salt into the wound when he told the nation that Mulenga did not qualify to be president. When Mulenga rushed to ZNBC to respond, he was met with piercing rhetoric from the Acting President: “don’t think ZNBC is your father’s property.”

Yes, “President” Kabimba had tasted riches, had tasted lust, now he was tasting power. On July 1, 2014 he hosted the Japanese Prince and Princess in chivalry and courtliness; that’s how absolute power feels like. On July 7, 20014, he ordered District Commissioners to grab land from traditional chiefs; that’s how abuse of power is like. Everywhere he went, he was met by enthusiastic crowds, at times with chants of “Kabimba for presidency;” that’s how power corrupts completely.

Panic in the Sata family

Aware of Kabimba’s rise, Mulenga devised a stratagem—a coup-de-grace. He left the country for South Korea and a possible surreptitious trip to Israel to inform his ailing father the country was gone, and that he was as good as ousted. There was panic in the Sata family. “The working holiday” was over and the search for better medical attention abandoned. It was time to fly back to State House.

The return trip was well orchestrated by Mulenga and a handful of his foot soldiers. At the Lusaka District it was announced that Sata was well and would be returning from his working holiday. News quickly spread that Sata would be arriving on July 4, 2014. All the while, Mulenga’s men organized transport to the airport and bought opaque beer to celebrate the return of their leader. It worked. Like the chameleon they are, PF cadres abandoned Kabimba and thronged the airport only to be met by Mulenga Sata and loud chants of “Vote Mulenga in 2016!”

Four days later, on July 8, 2014, it was reported that Sata was back at State House. Kabimba could not believe the turn of events. He was not expecting the president back—not so soon—not at all. Knowing Kabimba, he was getting ready to announce his cabinet—Vice President Fred Mmembe, Minister of Justice Mutembo Nchito, Minister of Tourism Sylvia Masebo, Minister of Finance Rajan Mahtani, Minister of Home Affairs Geoffrey Chuumbwe, Minister of Education Willie Nsanda…

Upon arrival, Sata, who was on a strict regimen prescribed by Israeli doctors, went straight to bed. His symptoms were not unusual for persons with heart problems or cancer. He therefore was to have more rest and less work. This meant that he was to have few or no guests and avoid the public as much as possible. It is speculated that whenever Sata felt better Mulenga, close members of the family, and confidants like Chikwanda and Lungu urged him to fire Kabimba.

Within days of arrival Sata snatched the instruments of power from Kabimba. In as far as he is concerned they belong to his son Mulenga. For Kabimba, the post of honor suddenly became the post of shame. On August 28, 2014, he fell from grace. And that was his downfall. Next on the chopping block is Guy Scott. The question is how do we stop the Sata dynasty? Watch this space.

By Field Ruwe

Field Ruwe is a US-based Zambian media practitioner, historian, author, and a doctoral candidate. Learn more about him on his website www.aruwebooks.com. On it you shall access his autobiography, articles, and books. Contact him, blog, or join in the debate. ©Ruwe2012.

Hjoe Moono

Yesterday the nation read yet another homily of the Post in which the editor is purported to have argued, among many, that if anything happens to Michael [HE. President Michael Sata], “they”, will be held responsible and be in serious trouble. Most readers are still in shock as who these “they” that “now have the power” are. We are also in shock as what this may “happen” to Michael which may put “they” in serious trouble really is. It seems with the departure of Wynter Kabimba there has been a power shift from “them” to “they’, effectively implying that the head of state is perhaps not in charge.

It is now very clear that there are indeed, power struggles in the PF, or perhaps not anymore with the departure of the purported “cartel” figurehead. The long suppressed ambitions of various factions are now laid bare, and the battlefield for succession being prepared. Suddenly Chishimba Kambwili has taken off his busy schedule of fighting football referees when his favourite team loses to calling the Post names he would never have dared a few weeks ago—his confidence in politics is back with the departure of Kabimba. We also hear others that resigned on purported moral grounds are now willing to re-join PF now that Wynter is gone. Was Wynter really that strong that all these perceive heavy weights couldn’t match up to him? Perhaps that explains why his downgrade has hard hit his partners in the cartel.

We live in uncertain times indeed, but we have lessons to learn from and refer to from around the continent. For example, in late 2008, a Guinean newspaper published a photo of a frail and ailing President Lansana Conté, who appeared to be struggling to stand up. The photo stoked rumours of the president’s ill health. Its publication angered the country’s political elite, who hurriedly ordered the editor’s arrest. By the next day, on the instructions of security operatives, the publication’s front page carried an even bigger photo of Mr. Conté — this time smiling broadly and looking spirited. But he died just a week later, justifying the newspaper’s initial resolve to let Guineans know that his health was failing. We saw something similar in Zambia where the president was shown on TV shortly before his medical tour of Israel.

[pullquote]Most readers are still in shock as who these “they” that “now have the power” are. We are also in shock as what this may “happen” to Michael which may put “they” in serious trouble really is.[/pullquote]

Since them, edited still pictures of him are the ones we see, and if on national television, the president’s voice is muted. And for months, the Post carried a deceit campaign that all is well with the president. Facebook too was being used by the president’s handlers to portray him as fit and healthy, in some cases to the extent of using old pictures of him to deceive the public. Clearly this is living in denial, but our question is for how long will this go on? In Guinea, the head of the National Assembly, Aboubacar Somparé, later explained that leaders hid the president’s “physical suffering in order to give happiness to Guinea.” This awkward reason was seemingly seen as desired to avoid succession squabbles in the ruling government and potential violence in the country. However, a few hours after the president’s death was officially announced, the army staged a coup. Clearly, living in denial threw the West African nation into political chaos that would have easily avoided had the political leaders faced the reality that was before them head on.

If what we are reading from the factions that have lost favour is indeed true in Zambian politics, this will get dirtier as these factions will use resources in throwing mud at their rivals, because the man who is expected to be in charge is showing signs of fatigue and has purportedly lost control. The debate of his purported inability to govern will get heated day by day. However, it need not be this way, not now, for Zambians have well known all this while yet the system has deliberately hid him, perhaps to “make them happy”. But clearly succession problems are there, and one would only hope that the PF is working out a good plan in-house. Honesty, Stability, expectedness and continuousness in leadership are important elements of good governance and these can be assured by a well-planned and -managed succession strategy. The events of the past weeks, and the ones ahead of us seem to be those of surprises, which, unfortunately, have potential to cause national panic. This need not be the case.

We expect that a succession strategy that is honest and transparent and ensures continuity in good governance need to be strictly constitutional. Infighting within the ruling party has potential to create factions that would unconstitutionally wish to usurp leadership. This is seen as being the case as purported in the Post of yesterday. But as the Post sanely argued, I doubt the Zambian people would allow such to happen, if at all there is anything of the sort in the making.

We are clearly constrained in commenting on the succession matter in the PF, if at all there is actually any seeing that the president is arguably “Fit and Working”. But reading between the lines, the recent events and comments from those who had the privilege of being close to the power circles call for genuine concern. We can only hope that Mr. Sata, in whose political dream we all live now, has it all laid out to ensure his political legacy, if any, continues. Mr. Sata’s political ambition and dream has made many people’s dream come true, and many others too have now pursued their dreams and are living the life of their dreams through his ambition. We hope that the strong leader he is, who, even in silence can pull off perhaps one of the greatest surprises in Zambian politics by doing a donchi kubeba on Wynter, we hope he can surprise Zambians by a consistent laid out governance plan and settle the uncertainties that are being created and fueled by those who have lost favour with him.