Chief Nalubamba welcomes PF, UPND pact

Chief Nalubamba welcomes PF, UPND pact
Written by George Zulu in Monze
Monday, June 08, 2009 2:43:33 PM

SENIOR chief Bright Nalubamba of Namwala district has said the pact between the Patriotic Front and United Party for National Development (UPND) was a welcome move in strengthening the opposition in the country. And chief Nalubamba has said he is not happy with the stance taken by President Rupiah Banda’s administration in the fight against corruption, saying it lacks the inspiration to the Zambian people.

Commenting on the signing of a memorandum of understanding between PF and the UPND, Nalubamba on Friday said the pact was a progressive move by the opposition.

Chief Nalubamba said a strong opposition would be able to follow and monitor the operations of the government in the provision of checks and balances in a transparent manner than in a situation where the opposition was fragmented.

He said it was necessary for both the government and the opposition to account for every move they made in a transparent and accountable manner to its people in responding to national challenges affecting the country.

“As traditional leadership, I also wish in welcoming this to state that I feel now that there will be no question whether it is improper for the opposition to discuss issues of governance and development and to discuss their manifestos with the people from whom they ask for votes,” he said.

He also said it would be painful for both the opposition and the people of Zambia if the recently-agreed pact failed.

Chief Nalubamba added that both political parties had enough experiences from their former pacts and alliances which failed.

And chief Nalubamba said it was important for the leadership to consider the critical role traditional rulers played in the governance of the nation in order to progressively fight corruption and any form of graft in both government and the private sector.

“...there are a lot of things going wrong. He’s [President Banda] got to reach us so that we can also give opinion. Even if we are villagers, we must be given an opportunity to give opinion on how this country should be governed and same applies to the opposition, they should not tell us how they want us to be governed we must tell them how we want to be governed,” chief Nalubamba said.

He said the high levels of corruption in the country were saddening, saying there was need to correct the situation.

Chief Nalubamba charged that the levels of corruption in President Banda’s administration were worse than in the late president Levy Mwanawasa’s regime.

“Why are we going that way? Why is it that corruption is worse off in Mr Banda’s administration than late Mwanawasa’s time, why? Something must have gone wrong,” he said.

Chief Nalubamba wondered whether the systems of control in government were effective and efficient to allow huge sums of money to be stolen.

“I don’t agree with President Banda’s administration on various issues, the purchase of 100 hearses from China and the intentions to procure mobile clinics from a Chinese company at huge sums of money. The idea is not acceptable because it will condemn people in rural areas to death. Government should realise that in the Southern Africa, Zambia has the worst infrastructure both roads and buildings, so which roads are they talking about where those things will pass. Do they have the capacity to repair the equipment they are forcing on the Zambians when they have failed to work on the ambulances which are still lying at various health centres?” said chief Nalubamba.