PF warns KK over his support for Banda

PF warns KK over his support for Banda
By Chibaula Silwamba
Wednesday October 08, 2008 [04:00]

OPPOSITION Patriotic Front (PF) chairperson for local government Wynter Kabimba has warned Dr Kenneth Kaunda not to confuse Zambians with his behaviour in endorsing MMD presidential candidate Rupiah Banda. And Kabimba has vowed that PF presidential candidate Michael Sata will never withdraw former president Frederick Chiluba's corruption cases from courts, if he is elected Republican president. Meanwhile, Kabimba likened Sata to Bolivian and Venezuelan presidents' Evo Morales and Hugo Chavez.

Featuring on Lusaka's Muvi TV programme, Matters At Hand, on Monday night, Kabimba advised Dr Kaunda to come out in the open if he wanted to participate in politics so that PF and other political parties could take him on, on a political platform.
On Saturday, when Vice-President Rupiah Banda was handing over a house and vehicle to him as part of his retirement package, Dr Kaunda said Sata makes a very good minister but could not do the work of Republican president.

Dr Kaunda was just short of publicly endorsing Vice-President Banda in this month-end's polls.

But Kabimba said it was unacceptable that Dr Kaunda was making political statements at a function where the government was handing over a house built by the taxpayers for him. He said Dr Kaunda should be grateful to the taxpayers who built him that house and not Vice-President Banda and the government.

Kabimba observed that it was clear that Dr Kaunda did not know what he wanted for himself and Zambia because he was very inconsistent.

However, Kabimba said it was fortunate that Zambians adid not take Dr Kaunda seriously on the issue of elections hence he could not sway their views and opinions.
Kabimba recalled that during the 2001 general elections, Dr Kaunda supported his son Tilyenji, late UPND president Anderson Mazoka and Reform Party's pastor Nevers Mumba against the late president Levy Mwanawasa and Sata.
He also recalled that in the 2006 tripartite elections, Dr Kaunda supported UPND candidate Hakainde Hichilema against Sata and Mwanawasa.

Kabimba alleged that Dr Kaunda was now supporting Vice-President Banda for selfish reasons because he wanted to put one of his sons in government. He said Dr Kaunda had always been endorsing some presidential candidates because he wanted to have some control in government.

Kabimba said Dr Kaunda's desperation was confusing him because on the day that he organised a meeting between Hichilema and Sata for them to form an electoral pact, as the surest way to defeat the ruling MMD in the October 30 elections, he also went to Government House to meet with Vice-President Banda later in the day.
"I want to challenge Dr Kaunda to deny this because I saw him with my own eyes on the same day driving out of Government House around 17:30 hours," Kabimba said. "Let him tell us what he was discussing with RB."

Kabimba further challenged Dr Kaunda to tell the nation why he fired Vice-President Banda three times since he now held that Vice-President Banda was a better candidate than Sata.

"Let Dr Kaunda tell Zambians why he fired Rupiah Banda three times; as governor, from NAMBOARD and as foreign affairs minister," Kabimba said.
Kabimba also observed that Dr Kaunda and Chiluba's reigns had brought misery to the ordinary Zambians.

"The only government that tried to uplift the lives of ordinary people was the late president Mwanawasa's government," Kabimba said.
He also said Chiluba had no moral right to lecture Sata about political decency because Chiluba himself had no political decency.
Kabimba observed that Chiluba's presidency was characterised by 'brown envelopes' corruption. He further said PF, if Sata was elected Republican president, would ensure that it continued late president Mwanawasa's fight against corruption.
He vowed that the PF would never withdraw corruption cases from court, including those involving Chiluba.

"As PF, we do not see late Mwanawasa's legacy being executed through this group of people, so the position in satisfaction of the reconciliation between old Michael and late president Mwanawasa, it is only fair and it is our position that the fight against corruption should continue and continue in earnest and none of the cases that are going on in court today shall ever be withdrawn on account of political compromise or appeasement," Kabimba said. "Too bad for the likes of Dr Chiluba because they will continue appearing in court until the court says they are innocent. If they are guilty sorry, you have to take nshima for them in Chimbokaila Lusaka Central Prison. No plea bargain under our legal system."

Kabimba further said Sata and his campaign team were the only group that had no one who had been accused of corruption in the past.

"In our team, you can't point at anybody that has been alleged to have involved themselves in any corrupt practices and I can give you a list of our people," Kabimba said. "I am sure if old Michael had engaged himself in corruption, Dr Chiluba - who is not supporting him - would have been the first person to tell us his alleged corruption. If I had been involved in corruption during the time I was in Lusaka City Council, the people who were there are still living, and they would have been the first people to allege that I am not the right person because I was engaged in corruption. But we are the only group that has a team that is clean and I can bet my life on that."
Kabimba said Sata drew his support from ordinary and poor people just like presidents Morales and Chavez.

"Sata's constituency is the ordinary person; the same line that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez took in Venezuela, he actually pitted the poor against the rich that were in collaboration with the US, and the poor won. It's the same line Evo Morales in Bolivia, he went to the poor and said 'I can uplift your life' and they believed him and they voted for him and he has been able, now, the poor are seeing their lives being uplifted," Kabimba said. "...even old Michael is a leader for the poor; he is the biblical Moses for the poor that he wants to uplift from these doldrums of poverty."

However, Kabimba dismissed assertions that Sata was supported by violent and lawless callboys who did not have voters' cards.
"...We were able to pick seven constituencies in Lusaka in 2006. If the whole of Lusaka is composed of callboys, then I need to be educated," Kabimba argued.

Although Kabimba could not categorically say whether the PF was still receiving financial support from Taiwan or not, he said the party was funded by Zambians.
"We are drawing our support, both financial and material, in this campaign from Zambian well wishers, those that have seen the PF programme as a workable programme, those who have looked at the team that surrounds old Michael and think that this is a team that can deliver," Kabimba said.

Responding to a viewer who observed that Zambians were ready to take a risk by voting for Sata the same way Dr Kaunda did when he appointed him governor, Kabimba said Zambians would not be taking a risk but a right decision.

"The right decision is to put old Michael in that office and I can bet my life on this that within a year, you will see the transformation of this country in a manner that it has never been seen before," Kabimba said. "The advantage I have is that I have worked with old Michael and I worked with RB; if you gave me a piece of paper here, I can clearly write you a profile for both in a very objective manner. So I know the capacity of the man Sata, I know how much he is able to work, I know how much he is able to think."
Kabimba also said he did not expect rebelious PF Kasama Central member of parliament Saviour Chishimba and his fellow PF parliamentarians who were participating in the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) against the party's decision to be appointed to Cabinet if Sata was elected president.
He further said the 26 PF parliamentarians participating in the NCC defied the party and not just its leader, Sata.

"I was one of the proponents of PF participating in the NCC. I was one of the people that stood in the Central Committee meeting and advocated that it will be in the interest of PF and the nation for us to participate in the NCC. The matter was put to a vote; I lost to the majority that said 'no!' As a loyal party member, I had to respect that position of the majority," Kabimba said. "So democracy can't be relative; it cannot only be freedom of expression when it suits me and not others."

He said despite the 26 parliamentarians' stance, the PF was still a united party.
"We have a party that is more unified, we debate in the meeting, we disagree with Mr Sata and we agree with him when we think he is right and we move on," he said.
Kabimba said Sata had worked in government for a long time hence he understood the cries of public servants and would ensure that he resolved their problems.