Maravi

Another eyewitness insists Rupiah bribed Sakala

Another eyewitness insists Rupiah bribed Sakala
By Maluba Jere and Mwala Kalaluka
Friday October 10, 2008 [04:00]

Another eyewitness, Mulenga Sichilya, on Wednesday maintained that Vice-President Rupiah Banda bribed the late Claudius Sakala with K20,000 for him to defect from MMD to UNIP in 1991.

And former Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) Kapoche member of parliament Charles Banda has disclosed that he was present at the press conference when Claudius Sakala announced that Vice-President Banda had bribed him to defect from MMD to UNIP in 1991.

In a walk-in interview at The Post offices in Lusaka, Sichilya advised MMD national chairman Michael Mabenga to keep quiet if he could not say the truth about the matter. He said if Mabenga was looking for a job from Vice-President Banda, he should ask in an honourable way and not tell lies.

He also challenged Vice-President Banda to deny that he bribed Sakala with K20,000.

Sichilya said he was among the 15 MMD members who went to Vice-President Banda's house in Kabulonga and challenged Mabenga to state whose funeral the money was meant for.

Sichilya said the K20,000 was not meant for any funeral but was given to the 15 MMD members as a bribe for them to defect to UNIP.

“Mabenga should just keep quiet if he can't tell the truth about the money,” Sichilya said. “There was no funeral anywhere at Sakala's house or anyone of us. I was among the 15 people who went to Mr Banda's house and later Lusaka Central Police where we gave the money to Mr Njobvu who must have been commanding officer that time. Even if there was a funeral, we would have asked Ronald Penza for the money who was in MMD and not someone else from UNIP when we were not his members. Sakala was not as poor as Mabenga thinks. How many people has Mabenga assisted to bury in Mtendere that today he should come and lie to the nation that the money was for the funeral?”

Sichilya explained that at the time Charles Manda was youth chairman, he was Mtendere market sub-branch chairperson and that even when the time came for them to go and meet Banda, Sakala was the one who received the money, saying he was in charge of the main branch.

“I saw with my own eyes when Banda gave the money to Sakala because he (Sakala) was our boss, all of us 15,” Sichilya said. “That money was for us to share if we defected to UNIP and we were promised more money at State House. When we went outside, we found a minibus arranged by Ronald Penza and took us to central police where we surrendered the money.”

Sichilya further said the 15 MMD members agreed to shock Vice-President Banda at the press briefing where the defection was to be announced.

“We had pre-arranged that we would shock him and I protested first and said I would not join UNIP because we didn't care about the money. What we wanted was change,” Sichilya said. “If we wanted to be rich, we would have gone to Dr Kaunda and collected the brown envelopes as they are being called these days. So, the truth of the matter is that Rupiah Banda is corrupt. Let them just win clean, not by bribes.”

Sichilya has vowed to look for the other MMD members who were present when Vice-President Banda bribed them with the K20,000 so they can challenge him if Mabenga continued denying. He said the lies coming from some leaders were a sad development and that he was even thinking twice about participating in the October 30 presidential election.

“These lies make me think twice about joining any political party. I was going to vote for Rupiah Banda but after all these lies, no way,” Sichilya said.

He challenged Vice-President Banda to deny ever bribing them with K20,000 for them to defect to UNIP from the MMD.

“I challenge Rupiah to show himself now and deny that he didn't give us K20,000 so that we can defect from MMD to UNIP. I am not afraid of anything now because I’m old…I’m not scared to die for telling the truth,” Sichilya said. “I remember that I had to send my family away in 1991 to the village when we revealed what Rupiah had done because of the fear of what vigilantes would have done. I slept outside the house for three days…I was only saved by my late brother in-law Golden Mandani who went with me to Kaoma to go and campaign with him. I only came back to Lusaka after the elections. This is the truth and Rupiah can't deny that he gave us that money to defect to UNIP.”

And Charles Banda said in an interview that it was very embarrassing for Vice-President Banda that Claudius Sakala turned against him during a press conference and revealed that he had been bribed by the Vice-President in 1991.

“I was the branch secretary for MMD under Munali constituency,” Charles Banda recalled. “That was in 1991 and my chairman was a Mr Langa. Mr Chanda was the treasurer, he used to work for Zambia Air Force (ZAF). We were under Munali constituency and Mr Claudius Sakala was our chairperson in Mtendere. Yes, the same person who was given a K20, 000 to defect. In fact, I am proud to tell you that I was there and I am able to tell you about that issue. We escorted Mr Sakala, he was our chairman, to that press conference.”

Charles Banda narrated that he was aware of what was going to transpire at Intercontinental Hotel even as he escorted the late Sakala to the press conference because they had earlier discussed the matter.

“We went to the hotel, but while knowing what was going to happen because Mr Sakala had hinted to a few of us what had actually happened, that UNIP was trying to buy him back so that he influences Munali Constituency to go with Mr Rupiah Banda,” Charles Banda said. “So this press conference was called and Mr Rupiah Banda spoke at that press conference and among the things that he said was that there were people who were defecting to UNIP from the MMD and one such person was at the high table, Mr Claudius Sakala.”
Charles Banda said as far as he could recall, Sakala was indeed at the high table.

“He was at the high table; he was the main man and I was in the audience…you see what happened was very funny because everybody who was there was UNIP, those who were supposed to receive the defectors and what Claudius did was to thank Mr Rupiah Banda for inviting him to that press conference but then announced that he was not resigning from MMD and that he was not a commodity to be bought,” Charles Banda narrated. “That is when he talked about how he was given that money, K20, 000. He said exactly that 'I have been given K20,000 so that I defect to UNIP, we should go back to UNIP but I am not defecting, my people are not defecting, they will still remain in the MMD'.”

Asked to describe how Rupiah Banda reacted to Sakala's revelation and turnabout, Charles Banda said: “Mr (Rupiah) Banda was caught unawares. He was just surprised. It took a bit of time for him to make movements there. Yes, he was shocked, that is the right word to use, he was shocked because I do not think he expected that.”

Charles Banda further said that the whole incident was embarrassing.

“I do not want to tell lies about anybody. This is a true thing that I witnessed. I am actually saying things that I saw. It was actually very embarrassing. It was a very embarrassing episode for any politician to endure that time,” Charles Banda said.

Asked to comment on what some people are saying that a wrong committed over 17 years ago should not be used to judge the character of Vice-President Banda in the run up to the presidential poll, Charles Banda said a future could not be built without history.

“You have to go back to know where you are and where you want to go,” he said. “If you smoked dagga 17 years ago, nothing has changed. You will still be the same person that smoked the dagga.”

Labels: BRIBERY, CLAUDIUS SAKALA, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 3:36 AM