Tone down on KK, Chiluba urges Levy

Tone down on KK, Chiluba urges Levy
By Noel Sichalwe and Patson Chilemba
Saturday July 28, 2007 [04:00]

FORMER president Frederick Chiluba yesterday advised President Mwanawasa to tone down when dealing with Dr Kenneth Kaunda. And Patriotic Front (PF) president Michael Sata has said that it is immoral for President Mwanawasa to refer to former president Dr Kenneth Kaunda as a chap. But President Mwanawasa has refuted The Post story in which he was reported to have referred to Dr Kenneth Kaunda as a 'chap' who was de-campaigning him to the international community.

Addressing the press at Lusaka International Airport before departure to South Africa for medical review, Chiluba said Dr Kaunda de-campaigned him the first day he entered office as Republican President in 1991 but that as Africans, people were not supposed to call elders by first names.

"Anybody older deserves a lot of respect whether he insults you or not. Ba Kaunda niba shikulu (Dr Kaunda is our grandfather). Whether he makes a mistake or not, it is very un-African to call him at that age and in his status as chap. No. Whether Dr Kaunda likes Chiluba or he doesn't, I think we just have to make sure that our customs are maintained. Ba Dr Kaunda ni ba shikulu. Tulakumana nabo pa airport limo limo pano (We meet here at the airport sometimes)," Chiluba told cheering supporters in the VIP lounge.

Chiluba reiterated the need to respect Dr Kaunda especially that he helped in the independence struggle.

"So I accord him the respect he deserves. So he is a founding father of our country, he was detained in Salisbury, Harare in Zimbabwe to fight for the independence of this nation with many others," Chiluba said although he did not make reference to the fact that he also detained Dr Kaunda on Christmas Day in 1997.

"They deserve the respect that is greatly required of them. I would ask my brother Mwanawasa to tone down when he is dealing with Dr Kaunda."
Chiluba also said this was a year of jubilee in the seventh year of the seventh month.

He said according to the Jewish calendar, this was the year of recovery in history to proclaim salvation and recovery in the name of Jesus.
He said he was going to South Africa in the name of Jesus.

"This crowd could not be bigger than this because the voice has been heard and that is what happens up in heaven. Angels surround the throne of heaven and peace and as we sing, we join them singing holy, holy the lamb that was slain before the foundation of the earth," Chiluba said.
"So we are already champions in the name of Jesus. We are going as conquerors, coming back as conquerors, living as conquerors, in Jesus name, amen."

Chiluba who was in a happy mood even cracked jokes with people that went to see him off among them Reverend Edith Mutale, Bishop Simon Mwale and Kasama Central Patriotic Front (PF) member of parliament Saviour Chishimba.

Chiluba was also seen off by jubilant PF cadres that were singing gospel praise songs which lured his wife Regina on the dance floor.
Apart from his wife Regina, Chiluba is accompanied by his spokesperson Emmanuel Mwamba, his personal physician Dr Justine Kangwa and two security officers.

And Sata has said President Mwanawasa's insults on Dr Kaunda would catch up with him after his term of office.
Commenting on the reference by President Mwanawasa to Dr Kaunda as a chap, Sata accused President Mwanawasa of being arrogant towards Dr Kaunda.

"Whether in law or age or political experience, it is not moral...it is immoral, he can not call Dr Kaunda as a chap. He's an eminent lawyer. That arrogance of fighting every body must stop. His advisors should advice him well," he said.

Sata said Dr Kaunda has all the right to speak on anything he deemed fit for the well being of the nation.
He said rather than attacking Dr Kaunda, President Mwanawasa would do well to take seriously Dr Kaunda's counsel on several important national issues.

"Because our President has not performed, he has no issues to defend or show to the country, so everything in Zambia is his enemy including a fly. When he sees a fly, its de-campaigning him," Sata said. "Dr Kaunda is a citizen of this country and has a right to comment on anything affecting the country. In fact he is in a stronger position to comment on anything based on his past experience because of the successes and failures he's had. President Mwanawasa must take seriously what Dr Kaunda says."

Sata wondered what had gone wrong with President Mwanawasa when he enjoyed closer relations with Dr Kaunda just a few years ago.
"What has gone wrong with Levy because when he took over he was very close to Dr Kaunda? He promised heaven on earth," Sata wondered.
Sata accused President Mwanawasa of dumping Dr Kaunda because he had passed his usefulness.

"All of a sudden as I have always told people that Levy has no permanent friends. He uses them and after that he dumps them. He worked hard with Dr Kaunda in dealing with Frederick Chiluba. Now he has found usefulness for Dr Kaunda not being necessary," he said.
And Sata said President Mwanawasa could today afford the luxury of insulting him (Sata) and other prominent people like Dr Kaunda because of the immunity that he was currently enjoying.

"He does all that because he's swimming in immunity but all those insults will haunt him in a few years to come. He can insult me because he knows we cannot return the insults because police will be on our doorsteps. Dr Kaunda was like that for 27 year, Chiluba for 10 years, and Levy is not like Dr Kaunda who didn't know when he would leave office but Levy knows," he said.

Sata further advised President Mwanawasa to listen to the people on the enactment of a new constitution.

He said President Mwanawasa risked being bruised if he continued to be stubborn over the constitution.
"It is the constitution through the third term that bruised the MMD and not Chiluba," he said.

Sata said President Mwanawasa would not have anyone to stand with after he leaves office because all his friends would desert him.
"Where are all Dr Kaunda's friends? At the funeral of Dr Kaunda's grandson we were unable to fill St Ignitius Church, which would have been completely different when he was in office. So my appeal to Levy is to take care," said Sata. "He's just bluffing over the constitution because as he says, Zambians are forgetful."

During a meeting with MMD officials in Livingstone on Tuesday, President Mwanawasa accused Dr Kaunda of de-campaigning the MMD government in foreign countries he had been visiting because he (Dr Kaunda) hated the ruling for getting him out of power.

"I used to plead with President Chiluba to sign his cheque and when he did, I personally went to give it to him. Now the chap is de-campaigning me just because he hates my party for removing him from office," President Mwanawasa said. "Kaunda should forget about the grudge he has for the MMD and just accept that things are better than they were before."

But President Mwanawasa has refuted the story which appeared in the July 26 edition of the Post newspaper under the headline: "This chap KK is de-campainging me -Levy."

According to a statement from State House special assistant for press and public relations John Musukuma, President Mwanawasa never said what was attributed to him.

Musukuma said President Mwanawasa said democracy was supposed to promote peace and understanding in the nation to calm incidents of potential friction and tension among people.

He advised The Post "to give democracy its true meaning and avoid sensationalism, hatred and tendencies of division in its reporting as these will not be cured even by the best constitution."

"The word 'chap' is not my language," President Mwanawasa said.
"I take strong exception to this as I never referred to Dr Kaunda as 'this chap'. The report by The Post is also unethical as the meeting quoted was a party executive and a closed door meeting. The Post journalist/s reports from hearsay as all pressmen were specifically asked to leave."

President Mwanawasa said it was true that he talked about Dr Kaunda in answer to a question asked by one of the party officials why he was tolerating Dr Kaunda and PF president Michael Sata to unfairly talk ill of him.

He said he responded that Dr Kaunda would not have brooked the amount of criticism and would have been quick to deal with such people by detaining him.

President Mwanawasa further said Sata being a disciple of Dr Kaunda would never have tolerated the kind of attacks he had been making.
He said the party official said: "Mr President, you must also be a dictator instead of treating these people with kid groves."

In response, President Mwanawasa said: "As far as I am concerned, Mr Sata is a finished person. By detaining him, I would make him feel that he was important and feared! I have allowed him to continue making his statements about me in the hope that the people will not take him seriously."

President Mwanawasa noted that on Dr Kaunda, he said words to the effect that he regretted that Dr Kaunda appeared to reciprocate the kind of treatment, which he had offered him as a parent and as a founding father of the nation.

He said he strongly talked to Chiluba to pay Dr Kaunda his pension as he was entitled to by law.
He said when Dr Kaunda's first cheque was prepared, he took it to his Kalundu house.

"Immediately when I became President, I directed for his pension to be regularly paid. He was given a furnished house, provided with motor vehicles, security and administrative staff who included an administrative secretary and a personal secretary," President Mwanawasa said.

"I further directed all our missions abroad to receive Dr Kaunda at the airport each time he visited their country of accreditation and give him all the courtesies. I am aware that he is entitled by law all these things but I have insisted that this law should be respected because of my policies that govern under my leadership 'shall be of laws and not of men.' Dr Kaunda knows for how many years after his retirement he was not being paid his perks and yet the law was there."

"When I travel abroad during the few occasions that it becomes necessary for me to talk about him, I speak about him fondly. Not only has he chosen to speak ill about me or to imply from his statements that I am incapable, he has openly campaigned against me and my party as was the case in the last presidential and parliamentary elections.

Yes I said I did not deserve this treatment by Dr Kaunda and that he had been rather unkind in his remarks about the MMD, the government and myself despite the many things which I have done for him. I commented however that whether I really deserve this, the people of Zambia would judge."

On the MMD presidential aspirants, President Mwanawasa said the contents of the story could only be intended to antagonize him against his MMD colleagues.

President Mwanawasa said he informed the meeting that it was not in the interest of the party for him to step down before the 2011 general elections.

He said he proposed a meeting of 'food for thought' that the party could require of him to stay on as party president until elections day and that as the convention, they could elect a presidential candidate who would be the actual 2011 presidential candidate.

President Mwanawasa said this would enable him lead the party and be at the head of the tripartite elections. He said this would all be within his two terms both as party and Republican President.

"I intend to pass this message to all our party organs. You think over this proposal, you can communicate your views later," he said. "I stressed the importance of selecting a presidential successor who had integrity and who would treat fundraising for the party as paramount importance because the party needed to be sufficiently funded to enable it discharge its operations. I have seen very little of this from my colleagues during the time I have served as party president."

President Mwanawasa denied that his proposal to stay in office until elections day was for the period outside the stipulated time. He said when the convention would be held, he could not have served his five years of the second term.

On the constitutional conference, President Mwanawasa said he was explaining to party officials the differences between the constitutional conference and the constituent assembly.
He said in order for the current constitution to be amended to give power to the constituent assembly, the process would be long and costly to the nation with the prospect that this process may fail to achieve the desired result.

"By legislating for a constitutional conference which would have no powers to make or alter the constitution but would pass its resolutions to Parliament for enactment, this is relatively simple and less time consuming," he said.

President Mwanawasa said since all members of parliament would be members of the constitutional conference, there was a high probability that they would vote to legislate whatever the constitutional conference would adopt.

He said the fact that the method was inexpensive, less acrimonious and would make it possible for Parliament to legislate those provisions which were not contentious and defer those that required a referendum.

"It is possible for an agreement to be made on almost 80 per cent of the document," he said. "At the end of the day except for this explanation, there was no difference between a constituent assembly and a constitutional conference. You can call it whatever you want, constituent assembly, constitutional conference, convention, national indaba, it is all in an exercise of semantics."