Maravi

Chiluba should lose his benefits

Chiluba should lose his benefits
Written by Editor

There is no honest person in this country and indeed in the world, who doesn’t know that former president Frederick Chiluba abused his office as president of the Republic of Zambia and enriched himself in the most reckless and foolish manner.
We say reckless and foolish because only a person acting in such a manner can do what Chiluba did. No sensitive person can take US$1.2m from a poor country like Zambia, which every year has a huge deficit in its budget that has to be funded by donors.

Zambia is today one of the poorest countries in the world and US$1.2m is a lot of money for the president of the country to take and spend on his suits, shirts, ties, pyjamas and shoes.

We think its time the people of Zambia stopped rewarding criminals. It is very unfair for the Zambian taxpayers to continue funding Chiluba, a proven thief who stole from them.

Chiluba should lose all his benefits because he pensioned himself in the most criminal manner. It is unjust to continue asking the Zambian taxpayers to continue funding Chiluba’s trips to Johannesburg for his medical holidays.

The people of Zambia do not owe Chiluba anything, it is Chiluba who owes the people of Zambia what he has stolen from them. We are sending a very wrong signal by continuing to force the taxpayers to meet Chiluba’s bills and build him a mansion after all that he has done to this country.

Even in ordinary employment, one who steals from his employer loses his right to be treated as an innocent person. A thief automatically loses his benefits. A thief can still lose his benefits if the employer discovers after his retirement and before he has paid him his benefits.

An employer can actually move and recover what has been stolen from him. Chiluba is not different from those thieves who are at Kamwala Remand Prison. If there is no law to that effect, then one must be enacted to freeze or cancel Chiluba’s benefits because it is not fair for the Zambian people to continue paying the thief who robbed them.

This is the right time to make an amendment to the existing laws so that as future judgments are obtained or registered against him, he does not claim that the law cannot be enforced against him retrospectively. Zambians should not be put in a situation where they will have to pay for the bills of this thief, for the rest of his life.

Today we carry a letter on the comment page from one of our readers James Nonde of Livingstone who says and we quote in part:

“For me, this failure to quickly and decisively deal with Chiluba is one of the greatest crimes this country has (collectively) ever committed. At a minimum, reasonable punishment is required – not because anyone hates Chiluba – but to help send a message to all would-be offenders that what we went through should never happen again.

“To date, all we have done at great cost, is provide Chiluba with comfort befitting a king and even sent him abroad for medical attention. Honestly, is this not rewarding crime?

I cannot imagine anything more insane than this. Under these circumstances, can anyone tell me what will stop Rupiah Banda from engaging in criminal activities just as his predecessor did? In this country, there is no incentive for leaders to behave. To end, my question is: is this the way we Zambians want this country to continue being abused when the rest of the world is moving forward? I rest my case.”

These are the feelings of Nonde whom we assume is a taxpayer and cannot stand the situation where he is being made to pay for the lavish lifestyle of a person who has robbed him.

It is good that even Patriotic Front president Michael Sata, who was one of the great protectors and defenders of Chiluba, now clearly sees and understands that this little crooked friend of his is a thief, a criminal who should not be entertained in any way.

As Sata has rightly put it, Chiluba is a disgraced and desperate person to an extent that he is now concocting statements so that he can be seen as clean in the eyes of the Zambian people. Chiluba should realise that his tricks will not work anymore.

He will not fool the people of Zambia anymore. He should realise that the world of his little self is getting smaller. No amount of desperation will stop it from closing in on him. His past is here to haunt him.

Cutting off all of Chiluba’s benefits will teach presidents like Rupiah Banda and other future presidents that no one will get away with corrupt acts against the people of Zambia. It will teach people like Rupiah that abuses such as taking his adult sons and their spouses and their children to Mfuwe on holiday using public resources will not be tolerated by the people of Zambia and that he may not get away with such acts.

It will teach people like Rupiah and future presidents that when you are a president of a poor country like Zambia, every penny counts and as such, abuse of its meagre resources will not be accepted.

Labels: CHILUBA, SATA, TASK FORCE

posted by MrK @ 1:18 PM