Join our community of SUBSCRIBERS and be part of the conversation.
To subscribe, simply enter your email address on our website or click the subscribe button below. Don't worry, we respect your privacy and won't spam your inbox. Your information is safe with us.
The Citizen Economic Empower Commission (CEEC) has released close to K6 Billion to 65 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Eastern Province.
Permanent Secretary Eularia Mwale told ZANIS in an interview today that government through the CEEC has released K5,994,428, 377 to 65 SMEs different enterprises since 2007.
Among the major projects that have benefited include poultry, carpentry, tourism, and transport.
The Permanent Secretary noted that CEEC has received 324 applications since the institution began its operations in the province.
Mrs. Mwale, however, urged the benefiting SMEs to ensure that they timely pay back the loans to allow others to access the revolving fund.
She noted that though 65 enterprises had benefited from the CEEC loans, the recovery rate was only at 38 percent.
Information minister Ronnie Shikapwasha reads a statement during a press briefing while Permanent Secretary Ngosa Chisupa listens
Government says it needs about K4.6 billion for the funeral of late second republican president Dr Fredrick Chiluba.
Chief Government spokesperson Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha has told QFM that government has so far raised between K2 billion and K2.5 billion.
General Shikapwasa says the money will go towards the burial and accommodate all administrative and logistics for the funeral.
He adds that it is for this reason that government is appealing for financial and material support from well-wishers towards the state funeral.
General Shikapwasha says members of the public wishing to make contributions can do so by channeling their contributions through district and provincial administration offices countrywide.
He says it is government’s appeal that all well-wishers and mourners support the bereaved family.
Meanwhile the family of late second republican president Dr Fredrick Chiluba has resolved not to carryout a postmortem.
Speaking during a press briefing in Lusaka today, family spokesperson Ben Mwila says was after taking into consideration Dr Chiluba’s Christian beliefs and the fact that he had refused to have a heart transplant and any operation during the time he was sick.
He says the family decided to respect Dr Chiluba’s Christian beliefs.
Mr Mwila adds that according to the Lunda tradition,it is not allowed to conduct an operation on a king and that Dr Chiluba is considered as such.
The Chiluba family has also reiterated that the late president was a national leader and that those who wished to attend his funeral should do so without being harassed.
Mr Mwila has also thanked President Rupiah Banda and the First Lady on behalf of the family for the support rendered during the funeral.
Health authorities in Ndola and other parts of the Copperbelt have placed the province on polio alert following an outbreak of the disease in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.
Ndola District Health Management Team (DHMT) acting principal clinical officer, Lillian Nyendwa said in Ndola yesterday that measures were being put in place to ensure that as many children as possible were vaccinated and re-vaccinated against polio during the on-going Child Health Week, which started yesterday.
She said 23 clinics in Ndola had been sub-divided into 83 posts where children under the age of five years were being vaccinated against polio and other diseases.
Dr Nyendwa said all the logistics were in place and the Child Health Week commemoration activities were going on well.
“The turn-out was slow on the first day but it has started picking up in some centres. There was slight confusion on the first day because some mothers thought Child Health Week activities had been suspended during the period of national mourning (in honour of former president Frederick Chiluba),” she said.
Ndola DMHT has since intensified awareness campaign for the child health week.
Some Times reporters who visited Masala, Kabushi and Railway Clinic yesterday found mothers queuing up to have their children vaccinated.
Authorities at the clinics said the response was encouraging as there were now more people taking their children for vaccinations yesterday compared to the first day.
Meanwhile, the Child Health Week in Livingstone started on a slow pace with the peri-urban areas registering low turnout.
A spot check by the Times showed that few parents had taken their children for the vaccination programme.
Livingstone District medical officer Cliff Hara said in an interview that although the response was still low by yesterday, it was better than last year.
“We have been going round publicising the exercise and we are hoping that the situation will improve because usually, the first days are quite difficult,” Dr Hara said.
He said the population was low in the peri-urban areas of Kasiya and Victoria Falls.
Dr Hara said he was happy that most of the parents were aware of the importance of the Child Health Week as the exercise had been conducted before.
He said children would this week be given vitamin A, de-worming and other vaccines for those that were due.
[ Times of Zambia ]
UNITED Party for National Development (UPND) youths say they will only accept to revive the pact with the Patriotic Front (PF) if their president Hakainde Hichilema is considered to stand as presidential candidate for the alliance during the 2011 elections.
UPND national youth chairman Joe Kalusa said in an interview in Ndola yesterday that the party could only accept to revive the pact with PF if Mr Hichilema is flouted as pact presidential candidate.
“As UPND youths we will only welcome the pact if it will be headed by Mr Hichilema. As you know, our party was marginalised a lot during the pact with PF,” Mr Kalusa said.
He also said that once the pact is revived, there should be a commitment letter from Mr Sata indicating that he has accepted Mr Hichilema as the pact presidential candidate for the 2011 elections.
“UPND wasted a lot of time when it was in the pact as it was being sidelined on many issues regarding the pact, and they also called us a lot of names,” Mr Kalusa said.
He said UPND youths will not support the revival of the pact without PF accepting Mr Hichilema as presidential candidate.
Mr Kalusa said UPND is ready to contest this year’s tripartite elections without being in a pact with PF.
Mr Sata has reportedly made a dramatic U-turn and is seeking reconciliation with UPND for a possible revival of the defunct political alliance.
Mr Sata seekks to reconcile with the UPND because he has allegedly realised that the MMD will win this year’s elections.
Mr Sata held a meeting with his party members on June 13, 2011 at the PFsecretariat where the matter was tabled.
And when contacted for a comment, PF secretary-general Wynter Kabimba refused to give a comment saying he does not speak to the Zambia Daily Mail and the Times of Zambia before cutting the line.
Patriotic Front (PF) president Michael Sata said the late Dr Chiluba could have been taken for specialist treatment in South Africa when he complained of not feeling well.
Mr Sata said yesterday when he contributed to the Radio Phoenix Let the People Talk programme that Dr Chiluba had access to better medical facilities than many other Zambians.
“How did Government allow Dr Chiluba, who indicated that he was unwell, to be in Zambia for about five hours without being taken to a medical institution?” he asked.
However, the MMD reacted by condemning Patriotic Mr Sata for trying to gain political mileage from the death of former president Frederick Chiluba.
MMD spokesperson Dora Siliya told journalists in Lusaka yesterday that it is embarrassing for Mr Sata to exhibit such behaviour when Zambians are mourning Dr Chiluba.
Ms Siliya was reacting to Mr Sata’s allegations that Government neglected Dr Chiluba by not taking him to a medical institution when he complained that he was unwell on Saturday.
“It is a disgrace for Mr Sata to point fingers over the demise of Dr Chiluba and championing his political ambitions, this is shameful and unacceptable to Zambians who are mourning a person who ruled them in peace for 10 years,” she said.
Ms Siliya said it is important for Dr Chiluba’s funeral to be respected because he was a man who loved peace.
“Let us mourn our former President in dignity and not to engage in careless talk like Mr Sata,” she said.
Ms Siliya said Mr Sata should heed the call by New Generation Party president Humphrey Siulapwa for a ‘ceasefire’ as the nation mourns Dr Chiluba.
She said Dr Chiluba contributed immensely to the country’s history and the growth of the economy.
“The history of Zambia is incomplete without mentioning the name of Dr Chiluba,” Ms Siliya said.
Former Executive Chairman of the Task Force on Corruption Max Nkole
STATE House has described as baseless allegations by former task force on corruption chairman Maxwell Nkole that President Banda interferes with the delivery of justice in Zambia.
President Banda’s special assistant for press and public relations Dickson Jere said in a statement issued in Lusaka yesterday that the allegation is not only demeaning to the President, but insulting to the judiciary.
He was reacting to allegations in yesterday’s Post that Mr Banda interferes with the delivery of justice.
Mr Jere said President Banda strongly believes in the doctrine of separation of powers which underpins the independence of the judiciary from the other two arms of Government – executive and legislature.
“Mr Nkole should avail himself with the necessary evidence before releasing false and libelous statements to the media,” he said.
Mr Jere said at no time did President Banda promise to terminate former Minister of Finance Katele Kalumba’s corruption cases in return for political support in Chiengi.
“Likening the case of Dr Kalumba to that of the second Republican President, Dr Frederick Chiluba, is doing an injustice to the memory of Dr Chiluba. The nation is currently mourning Dr Chiluba and dragging his name in the mud, as Mr Nkole and others are trying to do, is an affront to our culture and traditions in Zambia. Let us mourn Dr Chiluba in peace and dignitiy,” he said.
Mr Jere said for the record, Dr Chiluba faced the courts of law and was acquitted on corruption charges by the High Court not President Banda.
He said the President does not appeal acquittal cases to a higher court.
Mr Jere said the constitution of the Republic of Zambia is very clear on the appeal process.
“The director of public prosecutions is empowered to appeal to a higher court, based on his legal opinion.
The courts have convicted and sentenced some of the President’s political colleagues. The conviction of Dr Solomon Musonda,former Health Deputy Minisiter, is one example which demonstrates the independence of the courts,” he said.
Some former service and security chiefs have also been convicted and at no time did the President attempt to reverse these convictions, he said.
The accused have defended themselves in court and have, in some cases, been aquitted,” he said.
Mr Jere said Mr Nkole is a bitter and frustrated man who tends to blame his failure to run the disbanded task force on corruption on other people.
“As a former police officer, he must understand that Zambia is one of the few African countries which have upheld the independence of the Judiciary. Mr Nkole should learn to respect the courts of law. But it is up to the Judiciary to defend itself from such accusations,” Mr Jere said.
MARKETEERS in Kitwe’s Buchi and Kamitondo townships who refused to conduct their business in the European Union (EU)-funded modern market have started using the facility.
Kitwe City Council (KCC) director of community environment and health services Monica Mwanza said 70 percent of the marketeers have moved into the new facility.
Ms Mwanza said the residents are happy with the EU-funded Buchi-Kamitondo modern market.
She was speaking in Kitwe on Monday during a special full council meeting.
“I would like to report that the traders in Buchi and Kamitondo townships have moved into the new building and about 70 percent of the traders are conducting their business inside the market,” she said.
Ms Mwanza said it is sad that some residents have vandalised the lavatories and other infrastructure at the modern market.
She said there is urgent need to rehabilitate the damaged market infrastructure.
“We want to appeal to our people to desist from acts of vandalism. We are also facing the challenge at Nakadoli market where some people are reluctant to move into the main building,” she said.
And Kitwe mayor Elias Kamanga has castigated KCC management for allegedly failing to convince marketeers to conduct their business in the three modern markets that the EU funded in Kitwe.
“The council must be blamed for failing to tell the people the importance of using the modern markets. A lot of money was spent on these facilities. It is therefore important that council management works towards ensuring that the people start using the facilities,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Kamanga has castigated three Patriotic Front (PF) members of Parliament in Kitwe who have allegedly refused to contribute K250 million from the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) towards the purchase of a grader.
He named the MPs as Bernarbus Chellah (Wusakile), Lombe Mulenga (Kwacha) and Mwenya Musenge (Nkana).
Mr Kamanga said it is unfortunate that the MPs have allegedly ignored the council resolution that each constituency should contribute K250 million towards the purchase of the grader.
“This is not their money. As councillors we made a resolution that each constituency must contribute K250 million towards the purchasing of a grader for road rehabilitation in Kitwe, but three constituencies have refused to contribute. As a council we are not going to approve any project that these people will undertake because they have also refused to do what we agreed on as councillors,” he said.
Patriotic Front (PF) has resolved not to attend Dr Chiluba’s funeral, saying going to the funeral might cause havoc.
PF Kabwata member of Parliament Given Lubinda said the party central committee chaired by Mr Sata met on Monday and it was resolved that the PF would not attend the funeral.
“On Monday Mr Sata called for a central committee meeting. Everyone who attended the meeting was of the firm conviction that going to Dr Chiluba’s funeral might just cause unnecessary havoc,” Mr Lubinda said.
He said the PF does not want to provoke the situation by attending the funeral.
And speaking on a radio show Mr Sata said that he did not physically need to be at the funeral house but he will mourn Dr Chiluba from his own home.
Meanwhile, YANDE SYAMPEYO reports that the family of the late former President says Mr Sata has found it difficult to attend the funeral because of his guilty conscience.
But PF secretary general Wynter Kabimba said the party will ‘gladly stay away’ from attending the funeral of Dr Chiluba as they have been banned from doing so.
Family spokesperson Benjamin Mwila said Mr Sata, who is Patriotic Front (PF) President, has banned himself from attending the funeral as he has failed to contend with his conscience, following the negative statements he issued about Dr Chiluba when he was still alive.
Mr Mwila, who is also President of the National Democratic Focus, was reacting to Mr Kabimba’s statement that the MMD has banned PF from attending the funeral.
But Mr Mwila said the country still recalls Mr Sata’s sentiments that he would have re-arrested Dr Chiluba and ensured that he died in prison if elected President.
“Now that Dr Chiluba has died, I am sure Mr Sata has found it difficult to reconcile with what he said about him.
“So in actual sense, he has just banned himself from attending the funeral. Government and Dr Chiluba’s family have not banned him,” Mr Mwila said.
Mr Mwila said the PF will not be forced to attend the funeral if they do not wish to do so. He said every Zambian who wishes to mourn Dr Chiluba is free to do so.
Mr Mwila, who is Nchelenge member of Parliament, said there was nothing sinister about moving the funeral from Kabulonga to Belvedere Lodge.
He said the initiative was not politically motivated and not against the Bemba tradition and culture.
Mr Kabimba yesterday said there was no need to switch the funeral venue.
“We all know why the funeral gathering has been moved from Dr Chiluba’s residence to Belvedere lodge. It is due to the large crowd of people who are attending the funeral.
“There is no law in Bemba or even in the Ngoni tradition which forbids the shifting of a funeral gathering. So if Mr Kabimba was not aware about this, now he is,” Mr Mwila said.
He said it is not true that the funeral gathering has been moved for political gain in favour of the ruling party.
Featuring on Zambezi FM radio in Livingstone yesterday, Mr Kabimba said the PF is saddened by the death of Dr Chiluba and wish his family well.
And some callers said Mr Sata is unreliable and cannot be trusted as he turned against Dr Chiluba.
One of the callers only identified as Chinyama wondered what guarantee the country has that Mr Sata is a changed person.
Chinyama said Mr Sata supported the third term and issued contradicting statements when Dr Chiluba was facing corruption charges.
Another caller only identified as Mweemba said Mr Sata’s record is well known and that he campaigned for Dr Chiluba’s attempt to go for a third term.
“We all know Mr Sata. When did he become good? We all know he campaigned for the third term,” Mweemba said.
And Matero member of Parliament Faustina Sinyangwe has called on Mr Sata to swallow his pride and go to the funeral of Dr Chiluba, saying it is inhuman for Mr Sata and PF members of Parliament to shun the funeral.
She said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that the behaviour of the PF leader is unacceptable and should be condemned.
“Despite Mr Sata despising Dr Chiluba when he was alive, it is important for Mr Sata to go to the funeral and show remorse,” Ms Sinyangwe said.
She said Zambians have always put their political differences aside whenever death occurs.
“Everyone knows that Mr Sata despised Dr Chiluba so much but this should not be extended to death. It is unZambian and inhuman,” Ms Sinyangwe said.
She said all opposition leaders who had differences with Dr Chiluba have been to the funeral, apart from the PF leader and his MPs who are campaigning despite the demise of Dr Chiluba.
“Mr Sata is what he is today because of Dr Chiluba who worked closely with him when he was President,” she said.
LUSAKA Province MMD chairperson William Banda says he will take legal action against Edith Mutale for falsely accusing him of having insulted and harassed her at the funeral of former republican President Frederick Chiluba.
Mr Banda has said he is shocked that Reverend Mutale could claim to have been close to Dr Chiluba only after his death.
Mr Banda said he neither saw nor spoke to Rev Mutale at the funeral house, adding that at the time she claimed she was there, he had left.
“I actually do not even know this woman. I was surprised to read that she was accusing me of harassment,” he said.
He said if truly Rev Mutale is a ‘woman of God’, she should tell the nation the truth and not to try and gain sympathy even when it is not necessary.
Mr Banda was reacting to The Post story in yesterday’s edition accusing him of leading cadres to harass and insult Rev Mutale.
He has also challenged Rev Mutale to testify in court where and when he harassed and insulted her.
“I am not a gateman to be ushering people into the funeral house. I have been to the funeral house but I have not harassed or barred anyone from attending the former president’s funeral,” he said.
He also said he was taken aback that Rev Mutale could claim to have been close to Dr Chiluba when she did not even accord him the recognition he deserved when he was still alive.
Mr Banda recalled an incident at the late MMD national executive committee member Ackim Nkole’s funeral where Rev Mutale refused to recognise Dr Chiluba’s presence.
“Rev Mutale had to be spoken to for her to do the right thing. We all know why she is behaving in such a manner, and the reason is that she belongs to the Patriotic Front,” he said.
Mr Banda said even if Dr Chiluba’s administration deported him, he is not bitter and that he shared a cordial relationship with the former head of State.
Mr Banda said he and Dr Chiluba held meetings regularly, with the last being five days before he died
An 18-year old Zambian pupil has been honoured for scoring the highest mark in the world in the Cambridge ‘O’ Level History for Central and Southern Africa in last year’s examination.
Dalitso Phiri, of LICEF Secondary School in Lusaka, has been awarded with a prestigious recognition from the University of Cambridge International Examinations.
The Cambridge Top In the World Award recognises the success of learners who have achieved the highest standard mark in the world for a single subject.
And Phiri is pleased that his efforts have been recognised and has pledged to continue working hard to score greater success.
Meanwhile LICEF Secondary School Head Syed Ali says Phiri’s landmark achievement has made his learning institution and the country in general proud.
MMD Southern Province Chairperson Edgar Keembe has dismissed as false, media reports that Namwala member of parliament Major Robbie Chizyuka has been rejected by the party in the area.
Mr Keembe says the story which appeared in Monday’s edition of the Post Newspaper is unfounded and lacks merit.
He says Major Chizyuka is among the three candidates chosen by the constituency officials.
Mr Keembe says district officials are yet to interview the three shortlisted candidates and wondered why anyone can pick on Major Chizyuka and allege that he has been rejected.
He says it is also not true that there is pressure from state house on the leaders in the province to choose Major Chizyuka.
Mr Keembe says people of Namwala are free to choose a leader who will represent them.
Government has expressed its displeasure at slow and shoddy works carried out by local contractors on several developmental projects in Lusaka district.
Lusaka Province Deputy Permanent Secretary Richard Chinjili charged that some named contractors were frustrating government’s efforts in delivering development to the people.
Mr. Chinjili has since urged some named contractors to speed up and improve works on infrastructural projects that were tendered to them, saying government cannot afford to lose colossal amounts on shoddy works.
The Deputy Permanent Secretary made the remarks when he led a team on a Monitoring and Evaluation tour of some health and education projects undergoing rehabilitation and construction in Lusaka urban.
At Matero referral clinic Mr Chinjili and his team found defects on the newly constructed theatre to which a number of fittings, including sinks and doors, were leaking and falling before the infrastructure is officially launched.
At Chunga and George compounds where the Ministry of Health is construction new health posts, the DPS was disappointed to find work moving below expectation while convention of two classrooms into laboratories at Thorn Park High School was also going below schedule.
Mr. Chinjili warned the local contractors that they risked being blacklisted if they do not improve and advised the Ministry of Works and Supply to supervise the contractors with the seriousness they deserve.
Kafulafuta Member of Parliament (MP) George Mpombo has dismissed accusations that he is organizing people to shun Second Republican President Fredrick Chiluba’s funeral.
This follows accusations in a newspaper article quoting Forum for Leadership Search Executive Director Edwin Lifwekelo as having unearthed a scam in which Mr. Mpombo and others are allegedly organizing some people to boycott Dr Chiluba’s funeral.
But Mr. Mpombo has said that the allegations are baseless and aimed at gaining political mileage by the MMD.
The Parliamentarian has further charged that there is a tragic leadership failure in the ruling MMD adding that the harassment of perceived political opponents by MMD cadres at the funeral of Dr Chiluba is unfortunate.
He says people should not politicize the former President’s funeral because he was a national leader who deserves to be mourned with respect.
Meanwhile Alliance for Democracy and Development (ADD) leader, Charles Milupi has advised the MMD leadership to reflect on the unruly behavior of its cadres at Dr. Chiluba’s funeral.
Mr. Milupi says the MMD should realize that when one assumes the role of presidency, they become national leaders regardless of political affiliation.
But Zambia Police Service Spokesperson Ndandula Siamana says the police is not aware of the harassment or barring of some individuals from entering the funeral house of the late second republican President Fredrick Chiluba.
Police Spokesperson Ndandula Siamana told ZANIS in an interview in Lusaka today that the service has not received any report from any mourner contrary to claims by some quarters claiming that they were being harassed by suspected Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) cadres at the funeral house.
She has since advised the public to report to the nearest police station if they are being harassed or barred from attending the second republican President’s funeral.
Yesterday, a radio phoenix reporter is alleged to have been barred from entering the premises of the lodge in Lusaka where the funeral of Dr. Chiluba is being held.
[ QFM ]
By Elias Munshya wa Munshya
The news that a group within the MMD has been formed to keep Michael Sata from coming to the funeral of President Frederick Chiluba should be a concern to all peace loving Zambians. In fact, even our gallant security wings have fallen prey to this gibberish by entreating Michael Sata to stay away from the funeral—in the name of “security”. The very thought that it could come to this is not only ridiculous but insolently immature. I wish to argue in this article that Michael Sata should be allowed to attend and mourn his former boss. This is consistent with our common humanity.
Those who believe that Sata had been an enemy of Dr. Chiluba have chosen to look at a fraction of history and ignored the whole. They are simply being economical with reality. There has not been any true enmity between Chiluba and Sata. What existed were mere political interests that took these two gentlemen in different directions—only since 2008.
To use President Chiluba’s mere political difference when he supported Banda over Sata in 2008 as the yardstick for projecting the enmity between the two does not just make sense at all. Michael Sata had been Chiluba’s closest political confidante for years.
It is impossible to define a politically successful Chiluba without mentioning the political engineering of Michael Sata. It is Michael Sata who has served Chiluba in more senior capacities than any other living politician today. Sata was Chiluba’s MMD national secretary, minister of labour, minister of local government, minister without portfolio, and minister of health. Michael Sata helped prop up Chiluba’s credentials as a leader of the common people. Sata supported Frederick Chiluba within the democratic movement of the late 1980s.
Sata campaigned for Frederick Chiluba both in Lusaka and Mpika. In fact, the relationship between Michael Sata and Chiluba is one of the longest lasting political relationships in Zambia today. Spanning from the 1980s Sata remained true and faithful to Frederick Chiluba until Chiluba dribbled Sata in 2001.
But after 2001, and after the subsequent prosecution and persecution of Chiluba under Mwanawasa, it was Michael Sata who came to the support of Chiluba. Sata openly mentioned that Chiluba had dribbled him.
And Chiluba openly admitted that he had made a tremendous mistake by appointing Mwanawasa. But after the theft persecution, Sata became Chiluba’s supporter again. Sata provided Chiluba with the support of the common man from the Copperbelt and Lusaka while Mwanawasa and the likes of William Banda wished Chiluba dead. The alliance between Sata and Chiluba was so strong that it was the PF MPs and PF supporters who would line up the airport roads to receive Frederick Chiluba from hospital in South Africa. In 2006, no one was surprised to see FTJ raise a feeble fist in the air and request the people of Luapula Province and the Copperbelt to vote and vote for the Patriotic Front.
At one time, after the second political fall-out between Chiluba and Sata, Chiluba was addressing a funeral gathering when PF supporters booed him. To this Chiluba answered, “There are no permanent enemies in politics, only permanent interests.” In so saying, Chiluba mentioned one rule that has helped all successful politicians including Michael Sata himself. In politics no one is a permanent enemy. It only takes an expulsion, or the so-called resignation to turn political friends into enemies and political enemies into friends. We saw it happen in 1991 where those who were eating at Kaunda’s table suddenly turned to the MMD and became friends of democracy overnight. Nothing changed among those people, their hearts remained the same. They changed camps due to political interests.
It is rather ironical, that it is William Banda—Chiluba’s long-time arch enemy—who has today been transformed into Chiluba’s ally. What confuses me and many others is that it is this Banda who, while testifying against Chiluba in the 1996 presidential petition, claimed that Titus Mpundu hailed from Congo and spoke a Congolese dialect of Lingala as a boy. So William Banda is now a friend of Chiluba’s while Sata is an enemy. It seems the death of politics and the politics of death are incompatible with logic.
In 2008, it was politically appropriate for Chiluba to support Banda over Sata. A minute after the death of Mwanawasa it was apparent that Mwanawasa’s Vice-President, Rupiah Bwezani Banda, had no political interest in the continued prosecution or persecution of Frederick Chiluba. Under those circumstances, Chiluba was no fool to repudiate such a gesture. He again aligned himself against Sata and of course the Cobra went ballistic. He was angry against Frederick Chiluba. And it is at this point that the current MMD cadres miss it, they equate Sata’s anger as enmity. It is not enmity and it should not be interpreted as such. There was going to be plenty of time for Sata to play politics. And in fact there was still going to be more time for Chiluba and Sata’s interests to be aligned once more. Had it not been for death…Sata and Chiluba were once again going to embrace each other.
Sata and Chiluba’s interests were going to be aligned once more if Sata were to win the 2011 elections. Some have opined that a President Sata was going to revive theft charges against Chiluba after winning the 2011 elections. But those who know history and politics understand very well that Sata cannot take Chiluba to court. They know each other too well to do that. Sata said what he said because he was angry. He felt like he had been dribbled too much. But with him in power, there would be no political benefit for him to continue prosecuting Chiluba. Mwanawasa prosecuted Chiluba only when it was politically expedient for him to do so.
Mwanawasa took Chiluba to court not because Chiluba had stolen; some Zambians believe Chiluba may have stolen just going by the million dollar suits, shirts, shoes and underwear. But that is not the reason why Mwanawasa took him to court. Mwanawasa took Chiluba to court because he was politically in a precarious situation. He wanted ways to silence Chiluba who was still president of the MMD and had the support of almost its entire executive. Sata would not have the same political dynamics at play and as such, he would not have gone ahead with continued prosecution.
Here if the MMD cadres continue with this nonsense, it is Sata who will emerge as the shrewdest of them all. It is Sata who should want to keep away from the funeral. It is he who can say I had been dribbled too much by this man. But Sata is not known to keep grudges, just like Chiluba was. He has thrown all that enmity aside and he wants to go and mourn and sing “icimbo” for his friend and political confidante. This Sata must be allowed to do, even if it will mean taking the whole battalion of Zambian police to protect him from senseless cadres.
In death even enemies become friends; death is just like politics after all!
