Maravi

Rupiah’s govt has squandered its honeymoon, says Miyanda

Rupiah’s govt has squandered its honeymoon, says Miyanda
Written by Speedwell Mupuchi
Thursday, April 09, 2009 8:47:46 PM

HERITAGE Party president Brigadier General Godfrey Miyanda has said President Rupiah Banda's government has squandered its honeymoon. And Brig Gen Miyanda has described the just-ended indaba as a wasteful meeting, an MMD campaign committee.

Commenting on the just-ended indaba, Brig Gen Miyanda stated his party believed that after an election, the winner should be given time to govern; a sort of honeymoon.

"But clearly this government has squandered its honeymoon; the honeymoon is over. The calling of the indaba, whose agenda is to deal with what are management issues, is an admission by government of their lack of knowledge of what to do," stated Brig Gen Miyanda.

"I say this because our system of government is that whoever wins an election takes charge and begins to govern and implement what they promised to do for the people. Whether Zambians like it or not, this Westminster system is adversarial: those not in government do their best to get the ruling clique out of power, while those in power use every ruse to prevent the others from getting in!"

Brig Gen Miyanda stated that during the last presidential election, President Banda convinced Zambian voters he had what it took and made big promises and undertook to out-perform the others, declaring himself as the most experienced.

"Now the winner has summoned an indaba to find out what he must do to run the country during a national crisis which was foreseen, at least several months ago. He has taken four months to realise that there is an emergency!" he remarked.

"These people are paid to run the country, not the indaba. But instead they have worked out an ingenious scheme to summon the whole nation as consultants. This scheme removes the principle of checks and balances, because after you have participated in the indaba, you should not come back later and start pointing fingers at the government."

Brig Gen Miyanda stated that there were several reasons against using the "indaba concept" in the present format as a management tool.

"Apart from the unwieldy number of delegates [600, excluding supporting staff], a major negative is that the delegates were only regurgitating ideas that have been doing the rounds since the [Kenneth] Kaunda regime," he noted.

"The magic word 'diversification' became prominent during the latter part of the Kaunda days. The independence dream had not been going as well as expected. Copper was not as robust as it is today, so they were forced to start looking for alternatives; 'diversification' to agriculture was discovered and they quickly learnt an important new word. So there is nothing for the MMD government and its supporters to celebrate nor should they pat themselves on the back for inventing a new word called 'diversification'".

Brig Gen Miyanda noted that although the ostensible reason for summoning the indaba was the so-called global economic melt down, no emergency solutions were provided and no concrete plans were stated regarding the pressing workers' plight of threatening job losses and high cost of commodities - the real crisis that the indaba should have resolved "not coming to get ideas for a new manifesto for the Convention in 2010 and for 2011 elections."

Brig Gen Miyanda stated that the real reason for the indaba was the MMD's preparation for elections in 2011.

"A lot of things take place when you go to a football match. While the match is on, others are busy looking for girlfriends and may even succeed. The MMD is in election mode; any politician who does not realise this is in a wrong game and will wake up too late to realise that their delegates have been recruited and are part of the MMD campaign team; it is the way the MMD operates," he warned.

"Regrettably there are too many gullible citizens who do not see beyond where they stand. The indaba will be part of the many sound bites for election slogans as evidence of the performance of the incumbent and his team. This is all that this wasteful meeting is all about; an MMD campaign committee!"

Brig Gen Miyanda stated that the words unity and development were used in Zambia as unguided missiles to silence opposing views.

"If you want unity first you must believe in unity and practice it in thought, word and deed. Then you must respect other people; be open and transparent in your dealings and never harbour a hidden agenda. Above all refrain from intimidating your perceived enemies," he said.

Brig Gen Miyanda stated that occasions for rhetoric on unity and a time when the government should act must be distinguished.

"I say that this is the time for the government to do that which it was voted for: to protect the vulnerable; to prevent job losses; to refuse to use government contracts for fund-raising for their election campaigns; to prioritize; to stop being vindictive; not to dilly-dally by calling for indabas but act on their election promises," he stated.

Brig Gen Miyanda stated that the indaba, nevertheless, confirmed that the dependence syndrome acquired during the slave period and the colonial era had never left and many leaders and Zambians need detoxification.

He advised Zambians to stop thinking and believing that the World Bank was their benevolent friend; nor were the IMF and the so-called donors Father Christmas.

"These are hard-nosed businessmen; they strategise and plan years ahead and will not attend an African indaba unless they have worked out their sums and the sums add up. They are always looking for benefits for their home governments and people; they are keenly listening to speeches by Zambians for indications of how they can go back and plan rescue packages for their own people," he stated.

"The admission by the government that they have been sleeping and need a wake-up call should not be glorified as it reveals and confirms that Zambians have been taken for a ride, in that while they believed that they had put in power a working government, the same government has been sleeping.

"I must remind President Banda, an experienced former diplomat, that all governments have embassies and under-cover agents who collect data in advance and continuously, to help their own governments in strategic planning. In fact the indaba is full of them; this is NOT a Top Secret; it is how all governments operate, except maybe Zambia!"

Brig Gen Miyanda stated that the indaba concept as articulated by the Banda regime gave a false picture of practising democracy.

"We in the Heritage look forward to action and beneficial results for workers and vulnerable groups before we can join in the praise and worship of a sleeping government. Those in government who are sleeping must be sent home to go and sleep in their own beds instead of sleeping on the job!" remarked Miyanda.

Labels: GODFREY MIYANDA, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 7:48 PM