Maravi

Govt responds to Sata’s release of Magande’s letter

Govt responds to Sata’s release of Magande’s letter
Written by Patson Chilemba
Wednesday, March 18, 2009 2:51:49 PM

MICHAEL Sata and The Post are misleading the nation because President Rupiah Banda has more information on Zambian Airways, chief government spokesperson Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha charged yesterday.

But former finance minister Ng'andu Magande pleaded with members of the public including Sata and President Banda to tender their evidence on Zambian Airways to acting Inspector General of Police Francis Kabonde.

Reacting to Patriotic Front (PF) president Sata's release of a letter by Magande which President Banda said contained information on how the former finance minister proposed to forgive Zambian Airways' debt to the government, Lt Gen Shikapwasha said there was nothing new in the letter Sata released because the contents of the same letter were published in the Times of Zambia last year.

He described the revelation by Sata as a cheap shot.

"I'm surprised that The Post made it a headline because those things are already in public domain. He [President Banda] never spoke about that letter. So there is nothing new. Times of Zambia published it last year. He's [Sata] misleading both you and the public. The President has a lot of information more than what Sata can lay his hands on," Lt Gen Shikapwasha said.

"You and Mr Sata are misleading the people. You are asking the President to release a letter but it was already in public domain."

Lt Gen Shikapwasha said President Banda could not have referred to a letter that was already in public domain when he talked about Magande's letter recently.

Asked why President Banda failed to release the letter, which contained information on how Magande proposed to forgive Zambian Airways' debt, Lt Gen Shikapwasha said President Banda could not respond to threats from Sata.

He said in any case it was not the Minister of Finance but Zambian Airways that was supposed to appeal to communications and transport minister Dora Siliya to defer the debts of the airline.

"Isn't it for Zambian Airways if there is a dispute to write to the Minister of Communications? It's not the Minister of Finance who deals with the debt of Zambian Airways on National Airports Corporation," Lt Gen Shikapwasha said.

He said The Post should not take whatever Sata said as gospel truth.

"Even during the elections I told [Post managing editor] Mr Amos Malupenga but even now you have continued. You are the ones who were talking about the tribunal on late Remmy Mushota. Who saved Sata from appearing before that tribunal? He was saved by [former president Frederick] Chiluba," Lt Gen Shikapwasha said.

"A newspaper cannot base facts on an individual. Even if he [Sata] has got shares in The Post, it's not everything that he says which is correct."

Later in a statement, Lt Gen Shikapwasha stated that the government was appalled at the suggestion by Sata that President Banda told lies about an irregular proposal by Magande for government to defer payment of fees owed to National Airports Corporation Limited (NACL) by Zambian Airways.

"What is even more appalling is that Mr Sata fails to see that the government correspondence between Mr Magande and Ms Dora Siliya that he released to The Post newspaper actually confirms the attempts to treat the Zambian Airways in a preferential manner by discriminating against other companies in the aviation industry facing financial troubles under the current global financial crisis," Lt Gen Shikapwasha stated.

He claimed that Sata hoped to set the public against President Banda.

"If Mr Magande was still in government, we are certain Mr Sata would have called this proposal irregular and discriminatory. Mr Sata would be asking what interests the minister would have in championing the cause of one company at the expense of others in the industry," Lt Gen Shikapwasha stated.

"The question that then arises is if the minister was interested in the plight of firms in the industry, why did he not propose a solution that would benefit all? "

Lt Gen Shikapwasha stated that the letter that Sata claimed to have made public to prove that President Banda lied about the irregular proposal by Magande confirmed what the President referred to when he said he had documentary evidence showing that the former finance minister wanted to bail out Zambian Airways in which The Post held considerable shareholding.

He stated that it was good that Sata had released the correspondence between Siliya and Magande to The Post.

Lt Gen Shikapwasha stated that the public would now be able to judge for themselves why The Post, which would have been a beneficiary of the deferment, was so critical of the President.

He added that Magande's meeting with Zambian Airways chief executive officer Mutembo Nchito to discuss the deferment of the airline's debt to NACL was irregular.

"This perhaps explains why he [Magande] was suggesting circumvention of the government policy of not bailing out a private company by funding NACL with what the company would have lost through deferment," Lt Gen Shikapwasha stated.

"The former minister argued that assisting Zambian Airways was going to be in accordance with the economic empowerment policy of government and assured his counterpart that his proposal put government in 'a win-win situation'. Is this so given the fact that the company also owes a lot of money to various financial institutions?"

But Magande asked members of the public who had information on Zambian Airways to produce their evidence to the investigative wings so that investigations could be completed quickly.

"Anyone who has information whether to support me or not to support me, let them tender it to Mr Kabonde. It's my plea that I would like this matter to be concluded quickly. So anyone who has information let them go to Mr Kabonde. That includes members of the public like Mr Sata and the President who said he had documents," Magande said.

Magande said the evidence would help police, Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), and Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) to establish the truth on the matter.

He said he was ready for the outcome of the investigations.

Magande refused to comment further on the matter, saying the public would judge.

On Monday, Sata released a letter by Magande, which President Banda said contained information on how the former finance minister proposed to forgive Zambian Airways' debt to the government.

Prior to that on Saturday, Sata gave President Banda a 48-hour ultimatum to release the letter, failure to which he promised to release the copy in his possession. He said reading through the letter, he did not see any corruption on Magande's part.

He said in case President Banda had a letter, which showed that Magande wanted to corruptly forgive Zambian Airways' debt, he should release it to the public so that the truth could be known.

President Banda recently told MMD cadres that marched to State House as a show of solidarity that he fired Magande because he wanted to corruptly forgive Zambian Airways' debts owed to various government institutions and that he had documents to that effect.

Labels: MAGANDE, SATA, ZAMBIAN AIRWAYS

posted by MrK @ 2:51 PM