I’m fit despite bashings, Rupiah tells Mongu residents

I’m fit despite bashings, Rupiah tells Mongu residents
Written by Mwala Kalaluka in Mongu and Chibaula Silwamba in Lusaka
Sunday, April 12, 2009 3:51:09 AM

PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda yesterday told Mongu residents that he is fit and well despite the bashings and attacks he has been subjected to since his election. Speaking on arrival at Mongu airstrip to officiate at this year's Kuomboka ceremony, President Banda said he would not sink so low as to become like his opponents.

He said he was happy that the many people he has appointed in government from Western Province knew what loyalty to leadership was.

“I am sure many of you have been wondering what I look like seeing all the attacks and bashings that I have been subjected to since I was elected,” President Banda said on his first visit to the Western Province since his election last year. “I will not sink so low as to become like them. They should learn that this country is big and if you want to be a leader, you must respect the people.”

President Banda said he was thankful to the Westerners for having blocked the above kind of leadership and assured that he was very well despite the attacks from his opponents.

“I am well. I am fit and I am ready,” President Banda - who is accompanied by his wife Thandiwe - said.

In his thanks to the people of Western Province for having voted for him and the MMD in the 2008 presidential election, President Banda said he would always count on the province.

“You can't count on a few people who come from where you think you are coming from,” President Banda said. “Remain united and peaceful in order to give ourselves a chance to develop this country.”

President Banda, who particularly thanked Litunga Lubosi Imwiko II and the other traditional rulers in the province for their contribution towards the MMD's victory last year, said he did not hesitate to agree to the invitation to grace this year's Kuomboka.

He explained that this was because the people of Western Province were not only special to him but also to most of the country.

President Banda said he had expected nothing but the positive reception that had been accorded him by the people of the province, which he said had lagged behind other provinces in terms of development.

President Banda said although his opponents and critics would always assume that his government was a wrong and bad one, his administration was just beginning its work.

“We have just been in the position to serve you for the last five months. The very first budget of this administration was just approved two weeks ago,” President Banda said. “The Minister of Finance, who happens to be your own child, has rolled out a sound budget. We have to make sure that this budget targets the people of this country wherever they maybe.”

He urged MMD members in the province to remain firm and united in order to safeguard some of the important tenets of life, such as peace.

And President Banda said he liked working with people from Western Province due to their loyalty.

“Many of my ministers, many of my permanent secretaries and many of my administrators, many of them are your own children whom you educated and cultured and I am very pleased to work with them because they know what loyalty is to leadership,” President Banda said.

He said he was going to undertake an aerial tour of the flooded areas so that a solution could be found around the problem.

President Banda said it was the duty of the government to look after its own people, who are faced with such situations.

Towards the end of his speech, one of the MMD provincial officials, who was translating for President Banda shouted, “RB 10 years” and he urged the cadres to repeat after him and they did.

But in his response to the chant, a smiling President Banda said: “It can't be 10 years. Even if you add five after 2011 it will be eight.”

Western Province minister Adonis Mufalali said he was happy that no one was going to die from the consequences of the flood situation for as long as the MMD government remained in power.

Mufalali said he was impressed with the government's quick response to the floods, which damaged crops and fields in the area.

And addressing the crowd, MMD national chairman Michael Mabenga urged MMD members in the province not to back-pedal or waiver in their support for the party and President Banda.

Mabenga wondered why some people have been blaming President Banda when he had just been in office for a few months and was just getting ready to begin his work.

He asked MMD cadres to stand behind President Banda in his programmes to develop the country.

However, the Western Province New Deal Choir presented a litany of the many socio-economic woes that have decimated the area's economic development.

“President Banda we are asking you to do a lot for Western Province,” group secretary Brendah Liseli Mumbula said in Silozi. “Look at the floods? Your children have no food and your orphans have no food, look at our wealth and natural resources, there is nothing.”

Mumbula said they were hoping that President Banda's government could reverse the status quo.

Meanwhile, Western Province Police commanding officer Vaels Muzwenga said Kebby Kabanda, aged 19, died on the flooded Barotse flood plain near Nalusa village on Friday.

Muzwenga said Kabanda was paddling his dug-out canoe from Lealui to Mongu when he met his fate.

He said Kabanda failed to swim to safety due to the intense water current.

By press time police officers were still trying to retrieve the body from the water after previous efforts proved futile.

Earlier in the day in Lusaka before his departure for Mongu, President Banda yesterday said he was still discussing with Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane on the amount of money that Zambia will contribute to Zimbabwe towards the US $10 billion required by that country to rebuild its economy.

Asked by journalists whether the government had come up with the amount of money it will contribute to Zimbabwe following that country's unity government presentation of US $10 billion (about K55 trillion) bill to the SADC heads of state summit in Swaziland last month as being the amount required to rebuild Zimbabwe's collapsed economy, President Banda said they were still discussing that issue.

“We haven't yet come up with a budget, this is what we are going to discuss with my minister of finance,” said President Banda.