Maravi

If Magande abused his office, set up a tribunal for him

If Magande abused his office, set up a tribunal for him
Written by Editor

If there is any other letter which Ng’andu Magande wrote ordering or urging anyone to forgive the debts of Zambian Airways, let it be published in the interest of truth, fairness and justice.

If there is any correspondence that shows Magande to have been trying to do wrong things, corrupt things in respect to Zambian Airways, let it be released to the public and to the law enforcement agencies so that he can be prosecuted for corruption.

Moreover, Magande, as a member of parliament, can also be dealt with under the parliamentary and ministerial code of conduct for abuse of office. And we therefore ask Rupiah Banda or those close to him to request the Chief Justice to set up a tribunal and investigate Magande’s corruption in connection with Zambian Airways. We say this because Magande is not an ordinary citizen, he is a member of parliament, a political leader whose abuse of office should not be treated lightly.

And all should be equal before the law. Why should Dora Siliya be arrayed before a tribunal for abuse of office while Magande is allowed to go scot-free when evidence against him is said to exist and is in the hands of the President. As we have stated before, the right to equality before the law, or equal protection of the law, is fundamental to any just and democratic society. Whether political ally or opponent of those in power, all are entitled to equal protection before the law. And under no circumstances should the state impose additional inequalities; it should be required to deal evenly and equally with all of its people. No one is above the law, which is, after all, the creation of the people, not something imposed upon them.

It is therefore very difficult for us to understand or appreciate why Rupiah is keeping this vital letter which shows Magande’s corruption to himself. If this letter could be used to nail Magande to the cross for corruption, why is Rupiah keeping it to himself? Isn’t this abating corruption? Isn’t this encouraging wrongdoing?

But there is a contradiction here that we find difficult to understand. Rupiah is accusing Magande of corruption and his cadres are threatening to have Magande expelled from the party for the same and yet there is a reluctance to show the country the so-called corrupt letter of Magande.

When Sata challenges them to produce the letter, Ronnie Shikapwasha raises all kinds of issues to justify why the government is not producing the letter. When Sata produces the letter, the same Shikapwasha now says this letter was already published in the Times of Zambia. If it was published in the Times of Zambia, why was Rupiah saying he has a letter which was written to the Minister of Transport by Magande where he wanted to forgive The Post of Zambian Airways’ debts? How you can forgive one company – The Post – for the debts of another company – Zambian Airways – is difficult to understand. But this is what Rupiah told his cadres.

We are not calling for a tribunal for Magande out of cynicism. We are serious. The nation deserves to know the truth and to be governed without corruption. Who would be better placed to inquire into these often repeated allegations than our judges?

It is not right for Rupiah, and today Shikapwasha, to keep suggesting that Magande has done something wrong and they have the documents without putting them on the table. These friends of ours should not take our people for granted. Everybody knows that if they had this information, it would have been in the hands of Rupiah’s aide Dickson Jere for publication in his Executive Issues and for onward transmission to the Times of Zambia.

It is wrong to suggest that Sata did something wrong by releasing the Magande letter. And moreover, Sata asked Rupiah to release his letter of Magande if it was different from his. And our people would be very interested to see the letter Rupiah was talking about because he made an announcement publicly.

But it seems Shikapwasha has a very difficult job as chief government spokesman because he has to defend things he knows are not true. This is one of the worst jobs a person with any amount of honesty could ever do. It’s extremely difficult for an honest person to be a spokesperson for a government that is premised on lies, dishonesty, calumny and deceit. It is very easy to speak for the truth even if it is about one’s mistakes, failures, shortcomings or inadequacies. Advancing and defending the truth is the simplest of jobs. Concocting lies every day is not easy because falsities carry with them so many problems, shortcomings and contradictions. Every day, one has to dream how to cover up the previous day’s lies and in no time this can become too big a burden for even a tough general to carry.

We have no doubt in our minds that Rupiah does not have any letter of Magande other than the one we published yesterday on Zambian Airways. If he can come up with such a letter, we will not hesitate for a second to apologise to him. Anyway, as we keep saying, we are not surprised that Magande is being attacked in this way. We say this because when Rupiah started attacking us in front of his cadres, he needed to say something to discredit us. Rupiah has looked and looked all over the place, the only mud he could find is that we invested in Zambian Airways. Of all the wrong things that The Post could do, he found that we had committed an offence of investing in an airline. And to show that this was criminal, he decided to accuse one of the most outstanding Zambian public servants in recent times, of corruption. When one looks at the allegation of corruption, it is based on the fact that Magande was trying to do his job. Indeed today, Shikapwasha is even questioning why Magande should have written to Dora Siliya instead of Zambian Airways doing so. Shikapwasha says this ignoring the fact that the first sentence in Magande’s letter clearly shows that there was a prior discussion between Dora and Magande: “Reference is made to our conversation and various documents you sent to me with respect to the above mentioned subject matter.”

Was it wrong for Magande to give his opinion based on the discussion he had with Dora? If the minister of finance could not give his opinion on a matter that had obvious economic implications for the country, then what was his job?

One may say: what economic value does Zambian Airways have to this economy? We invested because we saw the growth that Zambian Airways brought to our country’s aviation sector. All that one needs to do today to prove what we are saying is go to the Lusaka International Airport and see what is happening. Ask National Airports Corporation what has happened to their passenger numbers since Zambian Airways suspended its operations. What has happened to the charges they were levying Zambian Airways for carrying passengers through their airports? This is what Magande was dealing with, not personalities – it was not about The Post or Fred M’membe. It was about the national economy. If Rupiah and his friends are honest, they will be the first to admit that Situmbeko Musokotwane, the new finance minister, is having to grapple with similar issues on a daily basis, especially in the light of the current economic downturn.

But people who are dishonest have difficulties seeing and appreciating all this. And they will never stop lying. Today, Shikapwasha is claiming that Sata is a shareholder of The Post. Why? Why such a blatant lie? Is this deliberate or its utter ignorance on the part of Shikapwasha? Is it malice on his part? Why? When did Sata become a shareholder of The Post? Two years ago, Sata was accusing this same newspaper in which Shikapwasha claims he holds shares, of having rigged the 2006 elections against him. This same newspaper denounced Sata and sued him for defamation. And Shikapwasha is forgetting that the election propaganda Rupiah’s campaign team was using against Sata last year was lifted from our publications. Anyway, there is no need to belabour this point. Only a dishonest person can make such a claim. No honest person can ever link Sata to being a shareholder of The Post.

We have difficulties accepting that a reverend can be dishonest. But we leave this to Shikapwasha himself to deal with. Why is he saying what he is saying?

This newspaper has taken a very clear stance against corruption and we make no apologies for it. When Sata defended corruption, we attacked and denounced him when many in Levy Mwanawasa’s government were silent and too timid to comment on corruption. Our position has not changed. We will denounce corruption and its defenders. And this is what Rupiah, Shikapwasha and others who want to defend people who have done wrong should understand. This is what motivates us. And in this spirit, we say to them if, as they say, Magande did anything wrong, let them set up a tribunal.

It is surprising that in a statement released by Shikapwasha, he abandons his line that the letter Sata released is not the one the President is referring to or has. In his statement, Shikapwasha does not refer to any letter that is in the hands of the President but he dwells on the issue of discrimination, of Magande favouring Zambian Airways against other airlines in Zambia. But which other airlines is Shikapwasha talking about that were in a similar situation to Zambian Airways and were being discriminated against? Anyway, this is what dishonesty does. Instead of simply saying ‘this is the letter that the President was talking about’, Shikapwasha chose to deny in an interview and then released a statement which confirms our story. Today, the government is busy dealing with mining companies on a case by case basis.

Why couldn’t airlines be dealt with on a case by case basis? If there were other airlines which required incentives, why were they not looked at? Did Magande refuse to look at other airlines? Even in the tourism industry in general, it is not difficult to find investments dealt with on a case by case basis by this government. We have even cases of shops. When Shoprite came here, we had many shops in the country that were being run by our people but did they all receive the same incentives as an industry? Well, this is not to say only Zambian Airways should receive favourable consideration from the government. And this is also not to say that an entire industry should be punished because of Zambian Airways.

Anyway, it’s very clear that our friends are dry, they have nothing sensible to say on this issue. And pride is driving them to start even advancing arguments that go against what they are daily announcing as a government. Hardly a day goes by without the government saying how they are trying to help the mining companies. However, what they are saying doesn’t seem to constitute the corruption Rupiah has been talking about on the part of Magande. Again, if what they are saying is corruption on the part of Magande, let them call for the appointment of a tribunal under the parliamentary and ministerial code of conduct so that this issue is put to rest one way or the other.

Labels: DORA SILIYA, MAGANDE, ZAMTEL

posted by MrK @ 2:54 PM