Impeachment will succeed – Sata

Impeachment will succeed – Sata
Written by Patson Chilemba and Mwala Kalaluka
Friday, July 17, 2009 5:15:25 AM

PATRIOTIC Front (PF) president Michael Sata yesterday asked President Rupiah Banda to resign in order to avoid the embarrassment of an impeachment.

But chief government spokesperson Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha charged that Sata was a desperate politician whose only preoccupation was to get to State House. In an interview, Sata said President Banda should not underestimate the move to impeach him.

"He can avoid impeachment by resigning. He can follow the example of former United States president Richard Nixon when Congress wanted to impeach him over the water gate scandal. Rupiah Banda can do the same. He should avoid this embarrassing episode by resigning because the impeachment will definitely succeed," Sata said. "PF and UPND are now busy talking to friendly MMD. The only draw-back over the two-thirds is because of the rebels who will be bribed. By the end of the debate, there will be very little left of Mr Rupiah Banda. In fact those in MMD are even complaining that he is paying more attention to the rebel PF MPs than them."

Sata said he had instructed his members of parliament to oppose the draconian laws President Banda wanted to introduce over the Zambia Tanzania Pipeline Act and the other bills seeking to make the finance minister a pay master for the politicians, the Judiciary and civil servants.

"If they [members of parliament] want to be treated like garden boys, let them go ahead and accept these bills," Sata said.

He said because President Banda was highly irresponsible, the police had not yet been paid their June salaries.

He wondered where President Banda had taken the money.

"For the first time in history of Zambia, police are being treated like former Congolese soldiers, ba kaboke. If people at NCC [National Constitutional Conference] do not collect their money, that is not a problem. But a policemen will be forced to order a one-man road block if he is not paid," said Sata. "Those are reasons why Rupiah Banda should be impeached. On the midterm gratuity, it is not law, so let him and the MMD show leadership by not collecting that money. They will have our support when they show leadership."

But Lt Gen Shikapwasha said Sata was just desperate because he had seen that President Banda was performing.

He advised Sata to wait for 2011 if he really wanted to be President.

Lt Gen Shikapwasha said President Banda had ensured peace but Sata had failed to contribute towards the well-being of the nation.

"It is inconsequential for him to call for an impeachment because he has not given the people of Zambia reasons. How can he say he is working with MMD members when he is not our member? Let him not try to shift the problems of his party to another party. People are resigning in his party," Lt Gen Shikapwasha said. "President Banda is doing a lot of things without the support of you The Post or the opposition. He is undemocratic. There has never been a time when you have written a story that Sata is undemocratic. As the adage goes, birds of the same feather flock together."

Lt Gen Shikapwasha said if the UPND and PF pact was worth its salt, they should shoot down the bills government would present to Parliament.

He said the bill regarding TAZAMA was meant to protect Zambians and not foreigners.

Lt Gen Shikapwasha said the government intends to streamline the payment of allowances through the bills to be presented to Parliament.

On the appointment of Dora Siliya and Michael Mabenga as education minister and lands deputy minister respectively, Lt Gen Shikapwasha said Siliya was cleared by the courts, and so there was nothing wrong with her appointment.

He also said there was no court ruling that Mabenga should not serve as minister or member of parliament.

MMD national secretary Katele Kalumba described Sata's claims that some parliamentarians in the ruling party support the opposition's bid to impeach President Banda, as extreme wishful thinking.

Kalumba said no MMD parliamentarian had approached him openly or privately to intimate to him, as the party's chief executive officer, that there was an internal rebellion against President Banda.

" I think that my big man may be dreaming and I would like to say my big man, because I do not like to use abusive language," Kalumba said in an interview. "If it is wishful thinking, it is only one of the extreme kind."

Kalumba said no MMD parliamentarian in their right sense could even entertain thoughts of impeaching President Banda.

"I can confidently say that all our members of parliament are fully behind the President," he said. "It is a time-wasting exercise. I do not know for what political capital they want to do that but I see it as a fruitless exercise."

Kalumba urged the opposition politicians to behave in a statesmanlike manner and avoid situations that would enhance tension in the country.

"Talk of impeachment of a sitting President does not come easy. It is a very serious matter. It sends some signals not only to the political community but also the investor community, both locally and internationally," Kalumba said. "When you begin to talk about impeachment you are signifying a political legal impasse has been reached."

On Wednesday, Sata said President Banda had created several scandals since assuming office eight months ago.

He said President Banda had breached the Constitution by appointing corrupt people like Siliya and Mabenga.

Sata said President Banda's government wanted to introduce a bill in Parliament to amend the Zambia Tanzania Pipeline Act to provide immunity from execution of judgments against the assets of the Tanzania Mafuta Pipeline Limited as well as provide for matters connected with or incidental to the foregoing.

He said the government wanted to run away from paying the US$100 million dollars debt owed to ABSA of South Africa.

Sata said the government wanted to introduce two bills to create different salary structures for politicians and those for civil servants.

He said the government would introduce the Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices (Emoluments) (Amendment) Bill, 2009.

The Bill states as follows: "(a) empower the Minister responsible for finance to prescribe, by statutory instrument, the emoluments payable to the holder of the office of Vice-President, Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Cabinet Minister, Leader of the Opposition, Chief Whip, Deputy Chief Whip, Deputy Minister, Deputy Chairperson of Committees and Private Member of the National Assembly; and (b) provide for matters connected with or incidental to the foregoing."

Sata said there was another salary structure aimed at making the minister of finance a paymaster for those in the Judiciary.

He said the practice in the Commonwealth was that salaries for politicians and those for the Judiciary should go through Parliament.

But Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) president Leonard Hikaumba said he hoped the introduction of the bills was not aimed at awarding politicians hefty allowances.

Hikaumba said there should be a system to scrutnise salaries and allowances for politicians and those in the Judiciary rather than just coming up with statutory instruments.

He said recently several people had raised observations that the Judiciary was compromised and it should not be left to the minister of finance to determine their allowances.

"As the adage, you can't bite the finger which feeds you," said Hikaumba.