My colleagues have run away from me - Chiluba
My colleagues have run away from me - ChilubaBy Speedwell Mupuchi
Tuesday February 20, 2007 [02:00]
FORMER president Frederick Chiluba yesterday said that some of his colleagues have run away from him. Addressing mourners at the late Dalton Sonkontwe’s requiem mass at St Ignatius Catholic Church in Lusaka, Chiluba said when the current government came to power in 2002 some of his colleagues became like grass that dries and water passes on it. “Babutuka,” he said in Bemba meaning they run away. Chiluba said the late Sokontwe, like the biblical Moses, refused to leave him and chose to suffer with him. “When the current government came to power, nshilebaseka iyo nshaishiba umupashi wabo oko wabatwala, teine Lesa wabo (I am not laughing at them, I don’t know where their spirit leads them, I am not their God). They (his friends) became like grass that gets dry and water passes over it. They run away,” Chiluba said. “Sokontwe refused to insult Chiluba, Sokontwe refused to continue with work if it meant him stopping coming to my house.” At this point, Chiluba broke down.
He continued, saying Sokontwe pledged to suffer with him because he was the one who caused him to be elected member of parliament for Chembe Constituency. “I have lost a son, my wife Regina knows. They are few, we remained with Sampa (Chitalu) Machungwa, Kasongo, Sata even when we were not with him in the same party that time now he is our leader for PF (Patriotic Front); they have not insulted me, I am with them my colleagues, they are many,” Chiluba recounted.
Chiluba continued saying he read Shakespeare’s book where a character called Chorus said: “If only we had divine inspiration, our story would rise to the highest level of imagination and in the end he said I am only an ordinary mortal man, I am zero.” He asked the people to add a number to the zeros in order to figure out how valuable the late Sokontwe was. Chiluba said owing to his ill health, he would not travel to see where Sokontwe would be buried in Milenge in Luapula Province.
Chiluba said Sokontwe was the chief’s grandson and that his works, words and respect were royal.
Chiluba advised relatives not to finger-point. He thanked Mines minister Dr Kalombo Mwansa who attended the church service and asked him to extend his appreciation to President Mwanawasa. “Yesterday we were with Shikapwasha, Mwansa Kalombo, and other members of parliament for PF, Sichinga (Robert). Let’s not stop here, let’s be united in accident times,” Chiluba said. “Even in eating times, we should not be chasing each other. We should be united.” Earlier, Chiluba said changing leadership did not mean being enemies. He recounted how difficult the times were when the MMD removed Dr Kenneth Kaunda’s government from power in 1991. Chiluba said some of his colleagues asked him to chase all of Dr Kaunda’s “children” but he refused saying if he (Dr Kaunda) erred, it was not his children that erred.
Chiluba said he allowed Dr Kaunda’s supporters to remain in their jobs and were only told to leave when they erred. He explained that those that remained in government were not chased just because they worked with Dr Kaunda. “So the people we found were government workers and not UNIP and even those that remained in UNIP and worked in government, we did not point fingers at them but continued working with them,” Chiluba said. “When I bought by elder brother a vehicle, it was not through my own money but government money. I said to my government that our grandfather has left the presidency but not according to his dignity, he was the first President. So we cannot buy him a vehicle like the ones ministers are using, we will buy a big vehicle,” Chiluba said.
He narrated how be bought Dr Kaunda a Mercedes Benz 500 SL. “I called him ‘grandfather come and get ichimbayambaya nachisa’ (the wreck has come) so that you move respectfully. But he said ‘I can’t come because my colleagues might not like it that I come there’,” he said. Chiluba said Dr Kaunda, nonetheless, allowed him to take the vehicle to him. “Why I have said all these words is, we never stopped visiting Dr Kaunda, we were going there. Changing leadership of the nation is not enmity,” Chiluba said. He said the funeral was his because Sokontwe was like a son to him.
Parish priest Father Charles Chilinda also advised relatives against grabbing Sokontwe’s property but instead leave it for the children.
Family member Kabwe Mandona said the late Sokontwe left behind 18 children and his wife who is currently in the United Kingdom for treatment. Sokontwe’s widow had a clot in her brain and left for the UK last December for treatment. Sokontwe’s body lay in state at his Kabulonga residence before being taken to Chief Sokontwe’s palace for burial tomorrow. The body leaves today.
Those that attended the funeral service included Heritage Party president Brigadier General Godfrey Miyanda, All People’s Congress Party president Kennedy Ngondo, Akashambatwa Mbikusita Lewanika, former Zambia National Commercial Bank managing director Samuel Musonda and former finance permanent secretary Stella Chibanda. Others included former Zambezi East UPND member of parliament Maxwell Mukwakwa, Maybin Mubanga and other Patriotic Front members of parliament.
Labels: CHILUBA, CORRUPTION
posted by MrK @ 1:13 PM
1 Comments:
I guess money can't quench a guilty conscience.
This is all a phase in the political maturation of the nation, but all this handing out of gifts and bling, while people are starving, and without any sense of conscience or responsibility is appalling.
Chiluba is deeply corrupt. He handed over the country's mines, as a consequence of which the Zambian economy and people have been watching helpless on the sidelines, while copper went from under $1000 per tonne to over $8000 per tonne.
Now it has come to light, that Chiluba took a $2 million bribe to hand $3 million of Zambia's debt over to a vulture fund, which is now extorting $40 million from the Zambian treasurer and people.
Chiluba is beyond contempt. His whole class of incompetent stealers is a regrettable incidence in the history of the nation.
The previous generation of Kenneth Kaunda may have lacked education, but their hearts were in the right place and with the people of the country. These neocolonial elites think they are above it all. That rules and laws do not apply to them. And they have the sense of entitlement to complain when faced with the consequences of their actions.
Chiluba created a political system based on favours, nepotism and connections, instead of merit or achievement.
There are very clear echoes of this on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. In fact, the similarities between MMD rule and Bush's rule never seem to end.
Let us hope that when the neocons and neoliberals are swept away in North and South America, the same will happen in Africa.
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