Maravi

Chiluba laughs at Kunda

Chiluba laughs at Kunda
By Brighton Phiri
Thursday September 20, 2007 [04:00]

FORMER president Frederick Chiluba yesterday laughed at justice minister George Kunda for alleging that he was working with The Post against the government on the constitution-making process. And finance deputy minister Jonas Shakafuswa has asked Heritage Party president Brigadier General Godfrey Miyanda to shut up and stop being stupid. Meanwhile, Brig Gen Miyanda wondered why Shakafuswa called him a stupid person when last year he tried to arrange for a private meeting with President Mwanawasa at State House in order for him to join MMD.

Asked to comment on Kunda's accusation that the Oasis Forum and The Post were working with him over the constitution-making process against the government, Chiluba asked journalists to tell Kunda that he laughed over his statement.

"Go and tell him that he laughed," said Chiluba as he broke into laughter.
Kunda on Sunday challenged the Oasis Forum to explain why they had ganged up with Chiluba, Patriotic Front leader Michael Sata and Brig Gen Miyanda because they were the main architects of the constitution crisis Zambia was currently facing.

And reacting to Brig Gen Miyanda's letter to Kunda, Shakafuswa said Dr Kenneth Kaunda, Brig Gen Miyanda, Sata and Chiluba should shut up over the constitution-making process because they were the architects of the current constitution that had caused a lot of controversies in the country.

"Tell me...who is shallow and petty between Miyanda and Honourable George Kunda?" Shakafuswa asked. "Let Miyanda shut up and stop being stupid. It is wrong for Miyanda, Sata, Kaunda and Chiluba to talk about the constitution because they are the architects of the current constitutional crisis. They are just a bunch of empty tins."

Shakafuswa asked Brig Gen Miyanda to either start a war or go to hell if he felt aggrieved with the government's stance on the constitution-making process.

But Brig Gen Miyanda said Shakafuswa's outburst was strange because he was the same person who tried to arrange for a meeting between him and President Mwanawasa to discuss the possibility of his going back to MMD.

"A stupid person is said to be someone who is slow to understand things," Brig Gen Miyanda said. "My letter is to Kunda who started this controversy and not Shakafuswa.

My letter is factual, signed and delivered to Kunda's office. I have made myself available for a live debate with Kunda to give him chance to prove his allegations.

I want this to be live because it will enable the citizens to judge who is stupid between the two of us. Why are these two things difficult for Shakafuswa to understand...if I am stupid, why was Shakafuswa last year labouring to arrange for a meeting for me to go to State House and meet his uncle President Mwanawasa in order for me to join MMD as he himself has done? Why did he tell me that he admired my stand on national issues and that I could help his uncle since other people were misleading him? What does it mean to admire a stupid person?"

However, Shakafuswa said it was misleadingfor Brig Gen Miyanda to claim that he tried to entice him to rejoin the ruling MMD.


"I met him at Arcades and asked him to sit down with the President if he has some good ideas to suggest for implementation because it is only the President for now who can implement things," Shakafuswa said.

"I did not ask him to rejoin the MMD. I just said if you have good and workable ideas, it's better you meet with the President instead of always rushing to the press."

And commenting on President Mwanawasa's declaration that the government would not change its position on the constitution-making process even if the Oasis Forum walked naked, Brig Gen Miyanda said President Mwanawasa's statement vindicated his concerns that he was not the right person to superintend the National Constitutional Conference (NCC).

"My concern about the involvement of President Mwanawasa in superintending the NCC are reinforced by President Mwanawasa's statement in Mazabuka, which I can call the Mazabuka declaration.

Among other things, he declared that the people who are disagreeing with him on the constitution-making process are not fit to walk on the streets of Zambia," he said. "If there are any Zambians who are doubting how President Mwanawasa will conduct himself during the NCC, now they have evidence of how he conducted himself in Mazabuka."

He said President Mwanawasa should be impeached for breaching Article 21 of the Constitution, which provided for freedom of assembly and association. Brig Gen Miyanda wondered why Zambians had remained silent over President Mwanawasa's statement that those who opposed him should not live in Zambia, when they raised an outcry after Dr Keneth Kaunda last year issued a similar statement on those who were failing to join United Democratic Alliance (UDA).

"Why are they silent on this dangerous statement? What method is he going to use to remove us from the streets? Is this not a serious breach of his office?" he asked. "Why is Shakafuswa not speaking out and telling his uncle that this is not the way to move forward?

It is completely unnecessary, misinformation and ridiculous to suggest anyone should start a war...if he means verbal war, yes, no one will stop me."

Women for Change executive director Emily Sikazwe said it was sad that President Mwanawasa had ignored the civil society's involvement in the fight against corruption.

"When we marched to Manda Hill, where there MMD cadres or ministers in our midst to demand for the removal of Chiluba's immunity?" she asked. "Is it Mwanawasa who signed the petition, in support of The Post when the journalists called Chiluba a thief?"

And Sikazwe said Kunda's accusation that the Oasis Forum was working with Chiluba was his propaganda to divert Zambians from pertinent issues on the constitution-making process.

She said the women movement was in solidarity with the Non-Governmental Organisations Co-ordinating Council (NGOCC) decision to stay away from the NCC.

Sikazwe urged all Zambian women to stand firm and stand by NGOCC's decision.

"We will not participate because our issue is the exclusion of the social and economic rights in the constitution. If Mwanawasa is happy with the process, let him give unto himself the constitution and we shall continue to tell him that we are not party to it," she said.

"Mwanawasa and his ministers must remember that they did not suffer under Chiluba's regime...no propaganda to align us with Chiluba will divert us in our quest for a people-driven constitution. As far as we are concerned Chiluba is a suspected plunderer."

Labels: CHILUBA, GEORGE KUNDA

posted by MrK @ 5:30 AM