Maravi

Chiluba's day of judgment is near

Chiluba's day of judgment is near
By Editor
Monday April 28, 2008 [04:00]

IT seems former Zambian president Frederick Chiluba has serious problems with accountability. Chiluba doesn’t seem to be prepared to account for anything. Even when he was in power he never wanted to be asked by the citizens of this country to account for anything. And he has continued to behave in that manner even long after leaving office. But those who enter public life or office should be prepared to account for their decisions and actions during and after their tenure of office.

It is wrong for Chiluba to refuse to tell the nation what he did while in office, especially when explanations are demanded from him by law enforcement agencies during investigations of allegations of criminal conduct on his or on the part of those who worked with him or under him.

The presidency is an office of trust. We collectively entrust a lot of responsibility to the person we elect as president of our Republic. We give them power to make decisions and act on our behalf. This power is meant to be exercised in the public interest and never to be abused.

And it also means that when called upon to account for their decisions and actions, a president or former president should have no problem explaining their actions to the people. Why should they have difficulties explaining their decisions and actions if they were acting in the public interest?

The only time when they may be excused from making such explanations is when this may unnecessarily jeopardise national security or our country’s relations with other nations. Even then, a former president is obliged to explain his or her actions to a sitting government. No citizen is entitled to keep a government secret from the government itself.

If something was done on behalf of the government, why should the government or its agencies be denied access to it? This can only happen if what was done was not on behalf of, or in the interest of, the government itself. Indeed such silence suggests criminality. Why should a former head of state refuse to answer questions on a maize deal, simple questions about mealie-meal?

It is shameful that Chiluba continues to be trusted. He has no respect for the Zambian people. His only discernible interest is to abuse them and use them for cheap politics. If he respected the people, he would show some remorse for his wrong-doings. We say this because Chiluba does not seem prepared to answer any questions on any of the allegations levelled against him. He is always looking for endless technicalities and suggestions of unfairness without ever addressing the underlying issue.

And whenever called upon to account for anything, Chiluba’s reaction is always to attack those who are calling upon him to explain his decisions or dealings, accusing them of bias, unfairness, injustice and all sorts of things. Chiluba had the opportunity to explain his decisions and dealings in the London High Court. He chose, instead, to spend all his time attacking and insulting judge Peter Smith and the British government. He suddenly became an avid anti-imperialist campaigner and declared his full faith in the Zambian judicial system.

But now that he has been found with a case to answer by the Zambian courts, we wait to see how respectful he is of the courts. Is he going to testify? Is he going to start his usual tricks of asking for adjournments and other time-wasting gimmicks? But May 10 is not very far. Chiluba and his lawyers have had a lot of time to prepare their defence. We hope we will not see any more time-wasting and desperate gimmicks. Clearly, he can run but he won’t be able to permanently hide.

The questions he has been avoiding are likely to be raised and he will be compelled to reasonably answer them. We hope he won’t do what his former assistant Donald Chanda did when asked in court to explain the Carlington maize deal. Chanda refused to answer any questions about this deal and had to be declared a refractory witness and sent to jail.

It will be interesting to see if he will be willing to take the stand and be subjected to examination and cross-examination. It will also be interesting to listen to the answers he will give in cross-examination to the so many issues he has so far been avoiding. We say this because under cross-examination he will be open to questions on any issues pertaining to him which the prosecution and the court may raise.

Chiluba and his tandem of thieves have sought to defeat the course of justice by using every conceivable method to delay the cases in court and turning round to attack the government for delaying their cases.

Liars, thieves and crooks do not care about consistency. They will say whatever it takes to get themselves out of a difficult situation. They will distort and deliberately twist facts in order to cover their shameful deeds. This is what Chiluba is doing with the legitimate comments made by Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) president Elijah Banda. The call on Chiluba by Banda to use the Carlington maize deal investigation to clear himself was nothing but respectful.

The Carlington maize deal has been in and out of our newspapers over the last seven years. There have been accusations and counter accusations by various players in that transaction. Chiluba himself has had the freedom to attack people over this deal, suggesting that he knows something about it. It is strange, therefore, that a call from LAZ that he should tell the investigators what he knows, instead of keeping quiet, should elicit such anger and venom.

Does he think the Carlington maize deal will just go away without proper explanations from anyone, especially from himself as the principal? Does he honestly think that it is normal for a former head of state to refuse to disclose what he knows about the disappearance of US$ 7 or 8 million? We shouldn’t forget that Chiluba was even denounced as a crook not fit to be president of Zambia by the owner of Carlington - Ari Ben-Menashe. Even at that time, Chiluba chose to remain silent over Manashe’s charges. Why? Is this normal behaviour?

And Banda is not the first one to say Chiluba should not keep quiet about these allegations and investigations. His own friend, accomplice and former intelligence chief Xavier Chungu has expressed concern about Chiluba’s silence on these issues.

In a story carried by The Post on May 28, 2004, Chungu complained that Chiluba had betrayed him by keeping very silent on a lot of accusations that had come his way: “Over many issues, the man... the second Republican president has kept very silent. I feel very betrayed by some authorities in taking care of my situation, especially the legal office, including the office of the second Republican president...”

And in an earlier story in The Post of February 1, 2003 Chungu during cross examination by lawyer Stephen Malama in the presidential election petition told the Supreme Court that Chiluba should account for all the money.

This was in response to a question put to him by Malama: “If we the people of Zambia wanted to know about the money misused public money, who should we the people of Zambia ask to account for that money.” Chungu responded: “Dr Chiluba should account for that money.” The attacks on Banda and MNB are childish and totally misplaced. Why should we not require Chiluba to explain where he took government money?

And moreover, this matter is not being handled by MNB; it is the Task Force that are investigating it. He was not called to MNB chambers or by MNB lawyers to explain this transaction but by the Task Force. So how does MNB come in? As we have advised before, Chiluba should learn to carry his cross alone and make his way to Calvary peacefully or magnanimously.

Trying to smear filth on innocent people will not in any way help his case or cases. When the day of judgment comes, he will be alone because he is the one on trial. If there is any wrong-doing on any other person let him, if he is a law-abiding citizen, go and report it to law enforcement agencies, instead of making desperate charges on those who call on him to account for his decisions and actions. His day of judgment is coming and coming very soon.

Labels: CHILUBA, LAZ

posted by MrK @ 3:20 AM