Govt has politicised Zambian Airways issue – Shamenda

Govt has politicised Zambian Airways issue – Shamenda
Written by Abigail Chaponda in Ndola
Wednesday, April 01, 2009 4:38:45 PM

THE MMD government has handled the issue of Zambian Airways unprofessionally because they have politicised it out of proportion, former Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) president Fackson Shamenda has said.

In an interview on Monday, Shamenda said it was surprising to see that the government had taken a keen interest in Zambian Airways' suspension of operations. Shamenda wondered whether the airline was the only company that had suspended operations before.

"The issue of Zambian Airways has been politicised out of proportion by the MMD government. It is neither a civil nor a criminal case anymore; it has become a political case. Even if the government had a case, they are not going to get anything because they have politicised the issue," Shamenda said. "From the time that it was started, it has been politicised by the government and as a result others have followed suit and when I say others I mean [Post editor] Fred M'membe and [Zambian Airways chief executive officer] Mutembo Nchito.

They have to defend themselves because they are just human. What is important is that this case should be handled by the Judiciary and not in the manner it is being handled."

Shamenda said there was too much politics surrounding Zambian Airways but that the issue could be best handled by the courts of law.

"The due course of the judicial processes should be left to take over this case because of the complexity of the case. Government should not have rushed to serve Fred M'membe with a warn and caution statement," he said.

"At first government was saying that Zambian Airways owed US $ 30 million and now it has come to US $1.7 million. We should not hold President Banda accountable alone but everyone who is in government concerning the airline issue. Not just Rupiah Banda, I think we are being unfair to the poor man. I believe the government should be held accountable not Rupiah Banda alone."

Shamenda said M'membe had been dragged in the issue too soon and it was sad that the MMD government had convicted him before he could be tried in a court of law.

He said the government needed to first investigate and question the people who were managing the airline before summoning M'membe.

"M'membe has been dragged into this issue too soon. Government needed to question the managers of the airline on what went wrong for the company to go under. What I don't understand is why government has taken a keen interest in the airline," he said. "Is it the first airline to go under or the first company to go under? Why didn't we see government taking an interest in the many companies that have gone under in this nation? This is why I am saying that this issue has been politicised."

Shamenda said there was a problem in the country because it was still under the one party state rule.

He said political parties needed to be reformed for development to take root in the country.

"The culture of political parties has got to change and I mean all political parties. All political parties have got cadres who are unruly. Today if you take pictures you will see that cadres who were in UNIP are the ones who are found in various opposition parties," Shamenda said.

"People who were saying '[Dr Kenneth] Kaunda alala' in 1991 supported [Frederick] Chiluba and today are busy condemning him. People have no principles at all and that is a problem. So we need to go a step further. The multi-party democracy that was formed in 1991 should have matured by now but sadly it has not.

"If you democratise then it means that all the wheels will be turning at the same time. Everyone will participate and powers will not be centred on one person."

He said as long as the political structures remained in the current state, government would continue to go round without finding any solutions to the country's problems regardless of which political party takes over power.

"The problem we have is that we have the same players. People who were in UNIP are the ones that are MMD, PF UPND and many other parties. So we need to change the mindset of people who are aspiring to become leaders in our country and if this mentality doesn't change then we have a problem in our country," Shamenda said.

He also said there was too much politicking in the MMD than running the affairs of the government and that the current problems that the country experienced would continue even when another government takes over in the absence of real democratisation.

"The way we run government should change. There is need to change the way we are running the affairs of government or else we are headed for doom in this country," said Shamenda.