Rupiah stands on fertile ground for impeachment, says Lubinda

Rupiah stands on fertile ground for impeachment, says Lubinda
Written by Chibaula Silwamba and Joan Chirwa
Monday, April 27, 2009 3:30:46 PM

PATRIOTIC Front (PF) spokesperson Given Lubinda has charged that President Rupiah Banda stands on fertile ground for impeachment for dismissing government officials that testified in the tribunal constituted under the Parliamentary and Ministerial Code of Conduct. And newly-appointed director general of the Zambia Public Procurement Authority (ZPPA), Samuel Chibuye, yesterday said he will execute his duties professionally without being compromised.

But sources have disclosed that Chibuye was under qualified to perform duties of the director general as required under the current Public Procurement Act of 2008 and was also not a member of the Zambia Institute of Purchasing and Supply (ZIPS), the professional body.

Commenting on President Banda’s termination of the contract for ZPPA director-general David Kapitolo following his testimony in the judge Dennis Chirwa-led tribunal that probed former communications and transport minister Dora Siliya, Lubinda disclosed that the PF had instructed its lawyers to give an opinion on the ramifications of President Banda’s dismissal of witnesses.

“President Rupiah Banda’s desire to protect Dora Siliya at all costs is exposing him and preparing him for an impeachment. His arrogant and blind defence of Dora Siliya’s actions which were found to be unconstitutional by the judge Dennis Chirwa-led tribunal is very good and fertile ground for the first-ever impeachment of the President in Zambia,” Lubinda said. “The threats against civil servants and the action of dismissing Mr Kapitolo from the Zambia Public Procurement Authority (ZPPA) are but symptomatic of the reign of tyranny by President Rupiah Banda.”

He said the PF would not stand by and watch President Banda and his government abusing public office in persecuting innocent citizens.

“On behalf of the party, we are calling upon our team of lawyers to immediately investigate the legal ramifications of the vindictive dismissal of Mr Kapitolo and we have given instructions to them to take up this matter as quickly as possible,” Lubinda said.

“While they do that, we want them to form an opinion as to whether President Rupiah Bwezani Banda is not working against the tribunal which called upon witnesses such as Mr Kapitolo, the Solicitor-General and the Attorney-General, Mr [Robinson] Misitala, managing director of National Airports Corporation and many other public servants who were called upon by the tribunal to provide information to assist the tribunal in making an informed position and, therefore, recommend to the President in accordance with the Parliamentary and Ministerial Code of Conduct and the Inquires Act of the Laws of Zambia.”

He observed that it was clear that President Banda and his government were extremely bitter with the tribunalís report that Siliya misconducted herself in the awarding of a US $2 million contract to RP Capital in the valuation of the Zamtel assets and especially that she breached the Constitution, the supreme law of the land.

“That is the reason they are spitting so much venom at all those who testified before the tribunal. The second reason why Mr. Rupiah Banda is intimidating and victimising civil servants is because he, on the advice of George Kunda, though as Vice-President and minister of Justice and the de facto legal advisor to Cabinet would like to instill fear in the citizens in general and civil servants in particular so that they donít appear in testimony in future tribunals,î Lubinda said. “This is a well orchestrated ploy to gag everyone so as to allow President Rupiah Bwezani Banda and his regime to continue with their quest to plunder Zambia’s resources. We know that President Rupiah Banda and George Kunda have a strong tenacity to breaching the law.”

He urged Zambians to be in total solidarity with the defenders of the Constitution and institutions of governance.

While, we have issued instructions to our lawyers to study this matter of unwarranted attacks on the civil servants who appeared before the tribunal, we would like to publicly offer our legal and financial support to Mr Kapitolo and any other person that will fall victim of Mr Banda’s paranoia,” Lubinda said.

He said the PF would stop President Banda from doing wrong things while he was in State House.

“The act of accepting Siliya’s resignation after she had been cited by the tribunal as deserving punishment is in itself a serious breach of the oath of office that Mr. Rupiah Bwezani Banda took when he swore before the bible that he will defend the Constitution of the land,” Lubinda said.

“It ought to be made very clear to the citizens that the tribunal did not have the mandate to convict or to issue punishment. Its role was to present its findings to the Head of State who, on behalf of Zambians, is expected to mete out befitting punishment.”

He said President Banda might feel comfortable because the MMD had the majority representation in Parliament and an impeachment motion could not succeed.

“Nonetheless, he ought to be made aware of the fact that he is faced with serious challenge of the moral impeachment,” said Lubinda.

“The public and posterity will forever consider him as a President whose morality was impeachable because of his strong egoistic desire to defend wrongdoers and to reward the defenders of the Constitution with dismissals.”

And Chibuye, who was until his appointment heading the procurement department at the Ministry of Education, said he was currently pursuing a masters degree in procurement.

ZIPS, a regulatory and licensing body for procurement professionals in the country, recently withdrew membership from Chibuye and other affiliates heading procurement departments for not having qualifications in purchasing and supply as required by the law.

However, Chibuye said ZIPS had not given them a timeframe in which to undertake procurement related studies and did not understand the manner in which his affiliation was withdrawn.

“I am now studying with one of the universities, Iam doing masters in procurement. The institute [ZIPS] is just being a bit unfair. When they gave affiliation, there was no condition; they said you can take your time”. It was an open-ended thing which ZIPS gave,” Chibuye explained. “So they called me and told me about the withdrawal of affiliation but I didnít want to say anything. They [ZIPS] would have said ëlook, before we withdraw your affiliation, tell us how long you are likely to take to finalise your training in procurement?” “The best thing I can do now is to try and do good in my profession. I have one year to go before I complete my masters in procurement.”

But sources said it was unacceptable for President Rupiah Banda to appoint someone whose membership with ZIPS had been withdrawn because they were not qualified to head departments of procurement.

“It is very surprising that now Chibuye, who doesnít have any qualification in procurement, is now heading the ZPPA. That is totally against the law. We know that ZIPS withdrew membership from people like Chibuye but this is the same person that the President has appointed to take over from [David] Kapitolo,” said the sources.

President Banda has terminated the contract of former ZPPA director general David Kapitolo, replacing him with Chibuye.

According to well-placed sources, Kapitolo’s contract which was due to expire in a yearís time, was terminated because he allegedly testified against former transport minister Dora Siliya during the tribunal sessions.

Chibuye further denied that his appointment to head the ZPPA was a reward from President Rupiah Banda for assisting one of President Banda’s sons to get contracts at the Ministry of Education.

“There are three levels of verification for tenders to be given. We have a tender verification committee, a tender committee at the Ministry of Education itself. And if that tender is beyond the threshold of the ministry, it is forwarded to the Tender Board [now ZPPA] for action,” said chibuye.

“It is therefore malicious for anyone to suggest that I gave contracts. When awarding contracts, you donít look at who is behind which company; we look at whether the company is registered and whether they have adhered to the legal requirements. Otherwise, my hands are clean, I have a free conscious.”