Maravi

Teta's remarks on Chiluba were without thought, says Lifuka

Teta's remarks on Chiluba were without thought, says Lifuka
By Maluba Jere and Jack Zimba
Saturday October 04, 2008 [04:00]

TRANSPARENCY International Zambia (TIZ) president Reuben Lifuka has said it is unfortunate that the seriousness of corruption allegations is seemingly being sacrificed at the altar of political expediency.

Commenting on Vice-President Rupiah Banda’s campaign agent Benny Tetamashimba’s remarks that former president Frederick Chiluba was neither a thief nor a plunderer until he is convicted by the courts of law, Lifuka said the reputation that Zambia had gained particularly internationally lies in the determination to investigate and prosecute corruption including high profile cases of economic plunder and corruption.

Lifuka said Tetamashimba’s statements on corruption cases involving Chiluba were without thought to the broader consequences.

“I would like to caution the political parties engaged in the election campaigns for the forthcoming Presidential election not to advertently affect the progress that this country has made in the fight against corruption,”

Lifuka said. “It is in this light that we find Honourable Tetamashimba’s comments on former president Chiluba describing him as neither a thief nor plunderer a thrift too casual and without thought to the broader consequences of his statement. It is this same minister who is on record as having praised the private media for exposing former president Chiluba’s alleged abuse of office and corruption.

“Today, for clearly political considerations and gains, Honourable Tetamashimba has U-turned and his position seems to be oblivious of the public anger that accompanied the revelation of economic plunder made by the late president Levy Mwanawasa during a special sitting of Parliament in 2002 which resulted in the removal of immunity of former president Chiluba. Honourable Tetamashimba was part of the parliamentarians who unanimously voted in favour of removing the immunity of Dr Chiluba simply on the strength of the evidence presented by president Mwanawasa.”

Lifuka urged all political parties to resist the temptation to betray the hard work of the Attorney General’s Chambers, the Judiciary, the Task force, the media, civil society and the general public who he said were waiting patiently for these cases to be concluded.

“We hope that in the aftermath of the elections, we will not be treated to a spectacle where corruption cases are dropped for unexplained reasons,” said Lifuka.

“We remind the political parties not to be entangled in a web simply because they have to repay some benefactors for the support they rendered during the campaigns. There is life after the elections and the public statements issued with careless abandon will surely come to haunt whoever utters them. We ask for responsibility, maturity and measured comments from all political parties even when the aroma of power is too strong to resist.”
Lifuka said the government and senior government officials in particular needed to be consistent in their statements or rhetoric vis-à-vis the corruption cases before the courts of law.

“Admittedly, Dr Chiluba’s cases are still before the courts of law and need to run their full course, and there are concerns about the selective nature of these cases. However, it will be wrong for any of the political parties to start using his stature and his court cases as a political tool.

At no point should the political leaders forget that these are cases which are premised on allegations which run against the interests of the general public, public resources and not personal or political party resources are alleged to have been abused or stolen,” he said.

Lifuka also said he did not recall Tetamashimba challenging his colleagues not to forget that Chiluba was innocent until proved guilty before the courts of law.

“Has it taken him six years to realise that Dr Chiluba is neither a thief nor plunderer until the courts of law convict him? What is interesting is that Hon Tetamashimba has been a fervent advocate for protecting the legacy of president Mwanawasa but he seemingly now wants to expunge from this legacy,” Lifuka said.

Tetamashimba last Wednesday told journalists that Chiluba was not a plunderer, but was in court facing “allegations and not truths.”

But on October 5, 2006, Tetamashimba, was quoted in The Post as saying the MMD did not want to be associated with the former president because he “made the country to be bad.”

This was after Chiluba said it would be an abomination for him to rejoin the ruling party and showed public support for Sata in the 2006 general elections.

“There is nobody in MMD national executive committee who can go to him and ask him to come back,” Tetamashimba said. “We don’t want to be associated with people who made the country to be bad.”

And on October 5, 2007, Tetamashimba said the MMD was very comfortable without Chiluba in its midst.

“In fact the country’s economy is doing very well under the New Deal government as compared to the period when he was leading this country,” he said.

In The Post edition of May 18, 2007, Tetamashimba said MMD would intensify the prosecution process of people who plundered national resources.
“There will be no excuse for Chiluba now. Chiluba has been campaigning for Sata, a sign that he is fit and healed,” Tetamashimba said. “We will not tolerate lame excuses over his heart problems.

“Especially that President Mwanawasa has won the second term without Chiluba’s support; things will be tough for him.”

Tetamashimba also hailed the judgment by the London High Court in 2007 which found Chiluba and his co-accused guilty of fraud amounting to US$41 million through the BK Facility and Zamtrop Account in London.

Judge Peter Smith, who presided over the case, ordered Chiluba and others to pay about 85 per cent of the total sum within 14 days upon service. The London court upheld the claim by the Attorney General of Zambia and found Chiluba and others liable and ordered that defendants compensate or account for a total amount of approximately US$41 million.

Tetamashimba said the judgment had come at the right time and would teach government workers in the habit of stealing a lesson.

Tetamashimba encouraged journalists to write about politicians’ thefts even when they were in government.

“If we are thieves, talk about us when we are in government,” he said.
Tetamashimba thanked The Post for exposing Chiluba’s plunder despite the arrests made during his government when the paper wrote that Chiluba was a thief.

Labels: BENNY TETAMASHIMBA, CHILUBA, RUEBEN LIFUKA, TIZ

posted by MrK @ 11:21 AM