Maravi

Rupiah’s govt has caused us embarrassment – Sata

Rupiah’s govt has caused us embarrassment – Sata
Written by Patson Chilemba
Wednesday, March 25, 2009 4:50:51 AM

PATRIOTIC Front (PF) president Michael Sata yesterday observed that President Rupiah Banda's government has caused embarrassment to the nation by allowing Chiluba and Regina to rub shoulders with Governor-General Quentin Bryce and Chief Justice Ernest Sakala.

And former secretary to the cabinet Sketchley Sacika said sending invitations to Chiluba and his wife Regina to attend state functions shows lack of political sense and sensitivity on the part of the person sending the invitations.

Commenting on the invitation of former president Frederick Chiluba and Regina to the state banquet organised for Australian Governor-General Bryce where Chiluba sat at the high table while his wife sat with justice Ernest Sakala at Hotel Intercontinental last Friday, Sata said unlike President Banda's government which tolerated corruption, Australia was a strong member of the Commonwealth Law Association.

He wondered how Australians would view Zambia especially that that country spent money on the fight against corruption.

"This Regina woman is still a prisoner. She has not obtained a stay of execution. How does State House and [Secretary to the Cabinet Dr Joshua] Kanganja and [foreign affairs minister Kabinga] Pande who is foreign affairs minister allow a convicted prisoner to go and sit next to the head of the Judiciary?" Sata asked. "How are Australians looking at us for us to take a suspected criminal who has reached an advanced stage in his trial to start rubbing shoulders with the Governor-General? Is that not an embarrassment? What this Banda man is doing, he is testing the feelings of the public. That's why a disgraced general like [information minister] Ronnie Shikapwasha is saying the President has power to pardon. It means they have already agreed. Where is the continuity of Levy Mwanawasa?"

Sata said people like Vice-President George Kunda, Pande, Dr Kanganja and State House chief analyst press and public relations Dickson Jere were a very big liability to President Banda because they did not advise him properly on Chiluba and Regina.

"Pande is not a lawyer but must know how Europeans [Australians] will judge Regina because they read about these things. George Kunda is a lawyer and Minister of Justice, he's supposed to protect the integrity of the Judiciary," Sata said. "They give us money to fight corruption but we slap them with corruption in their face."

And Sacika stated that Chiluba's loss of immunity so that he could stand trial in the courts of law and his conviction in the London Court placed him in a position where he should not be honoured by the state because he was a disgraced person.

"An invitation to a state function is an honour accorded to a person because of his standing in society; and the invitation depends on the occasions and circumstances. There are many people who had held very high office in government before who are no longer being invited to state functions because their standing in society has changed. As former secretary to the cabinet and head of the public service I am invited to certain state functions, but not to all," Sacika stated. "And I cannot complain because the government has no obligation to invite me. And as far as I know, the state has no obligation either to invite a former head of state to attend any function. Chiluba never invited Kaunda, a former head of state, to any state function when the latter was still leader of UNIP. Invitations to state functions must be based on political, social and diplomatic correctness."

Sacika stated that any person sending invitations to Chiluba to attend state functions was, therefore guilty of gross insensitivity to the political feelings of the people of Zambia and that President Banda should take action against such a person for undermining the integrity of the state.

He stated that it was an affront to the dignity of the country that senior army officers were saluting a man who had been found guilty of stealing public funds.

"What will our Australian visitors think of our standards as Zambia when we are prepared to subject our Chief Justice to the indignity of sitting next to a convicted person, or our President is prepared to share the same platform with a thief?" Sacika asked. "Chiluba should never be invited to state functions, and the people of Zambia have a right to demand that his pension benefits be forfeited to the state. The first legislative act Chiluba took as president of Zambia was to cancel the laws that provided for retirement benefits for Kaunda and other UNIP politicians. The action was vindictive and particularly cruel because the victims had committed no criminal offence."

Sacika stated that it was only after he had made representation to Chiluba's then vice-president late president Levy Mwanawasa long after he [Sacika] had left the civil service that an Act of Parliament was made to reinstate Dr Kaunda's benefits.

However, Sacika stated that many UNIP leaders were made to refund whatever benefits they had received from the state, and some died in extreme penury.

He stated that it was an act of love to punish Chiluba for his misdeeds and that no amount of reading the Bible, reciting dead prayers or going to church would save him.

"And no amount of throwing mud at [Lusaka lawyer Dr] Roger Chongwe, a friend I hold in very high esteem, and The Post Newspaper will save him. He will be saved only when he acknowledges his misdeeds and genuinely atones for his wrongs," stated Sacika. "God does not forgive sins. Sins go away only when we ourselves atone for them through acts of contrition."

Meanwhile, Sata challenged Speaker of the National Assembly Amusaa Mwanamwambwa to prove that he respects the Constitution by declaring PF Matero member of parliament Faustina Sinyangwe's seat vacant.

Sata said Zambia was fading like a K1,000 because people who were supposed to respect and uphold the Constitution were the ones ignoring the highest law of the land with impunity.

He said the three wings of government were supposed to respect each other but President Banda and the head of the Legislature Speaker Mwanamwambwa had no regard for the Judiciary.

"For example, the Judiciary have issued an injunction against Faustina Sinyangwe, the Speaker was furnished with the order. They have ignored the Judiciary. They allow Faustina Sinyangwe to sit in Parliament and they claim to say she has appealed," said Sata. "An appeal in this matter cannot stand. She has not obtained a stay of execution. The decision of the Judiciary stands. But Parliament because of Mwanamwambwa, they would want to weaken the opposition. They allow this woman to break the oath of office that she will protect the constitution. The constitution is what created the Judiciary."

Labels: CHILUBA, ERNEST SAKALA, QUENTIN BRYCE, SATA

posted by MrK @ 4:50 AM