Chiluba is a disgraced, desperate person – Sata

Chiluba is a disgraced, desperate person – Sata
Written by Lambwe Kachali
Tuesday, December 30, 2008 1:15:36 PM

CHILUBA is a disgraced and desperate person who is now concocting statements so that he can be seen as clean in the eyes of Zambians, charged PF president Michael Sata yesterday. Sata said no amount of manufactured statements or deceit would help pardon former president Frederick Chiluba from his corruption and plunder cases he is facing in the courts of law.

Sata said Chiluba's insistence that the Task Force on Corruption in conjunction with The Post had actively engaged in acts of propaganda and deception against him were baseless and a crystal sign of desperation.

He said the Task Force was doing a commendable job by exposing, investigating and prosecuting plunderers as well as ensuring that justice prevailed, accordingly.

Sata urged the Task Force to double their efforts and ensure that all corrupt people were prosecuted as that would serve a lesson to would-be perpetrators in the current administration of President Rupiah Banda.

Sata also said contrary to Chiluba's assertions, The Post had a duty to inform citizens about the day-to-day happenings in the country and that his [Chiluba's] alleged corruption and plunder cases were not exceptional.

Sata said without The Post, Chiluba and many other people facing corruption and plunder of national resources cases would have been heroes over their misdeeds. He urged Chiluba to keep quiet if he were to regain the lost respect and dignity from Zambians.

He said Chiluba's continued issuance of unwarranted statements would worsen his already weak position.

“Chiluba is in a very weak position, he is a desperate man. If I was him I was going to keep quiet and allow the Task Force to complete its job,” he said.

Sata charged that because of his disgraceful position, Chiluba was not being invited to attend any international functions as had been the case with other former heads of state.

“Even within the country, for example, in Livingstone, when his friends [former heads of state] are meeting, he can't go there because he is a disgraced person. So, all desperate persons do not know which way to go. But if I were him I would prefer to keep quiet,” said Sata.

On Sunday, Task Force chairman Max Nkole said Chiluba was issuing unwarranted statements because he had felt the heat generated by the Task Force. Nkole said most plunderers were jittery with what the Task Force was doing.

Nkole's remarks came in the wake of Chiluba's statement that the Task Force had connived with The Post to push propaganda against him.