Maravi

Rupiah is set on a path of self destruction – Nawakwi

Rupiah is set on a path of self destruction – Nawakwi
Written by Patson Chilemba
Friday, July 31, 2009 3:49:40 PM

EDITH Nawakwi has said President Rupiah Banda has set himself on a path of self-destruction which will have devastating consequences on the nation. In an interview on Tuesday, Nawakwi, who is FDD president and campaigned heavily for President Banda during the 2008 presidential elections, said President Banda was attracting bad omen on himself and the MMD for refusing to listen to advice.

Nawakwi said those who campaigned for President Banda were being blamed for bringing trouble to the nation. Nawakwi said it was disappointing that an elderly man like President Banda had literally failed to listen to advice on every national issue.

She cited the government's move to purchase mobile hospitals and sell 75 per cent shares in Zamtel as some of the issues on which President Banda had exhibited deafness.

Nawakwi said President Banda should call on the clergy and go for a retreat in order to reflect seriously on how he was governing the nation.

"He is talking about mobile hospitals being an offer. If someone offers you a chalice of poison, do you drink it? We don't need mobile hospitals, we want fixed buildings. If the President can go incognito on the streets, we his friends are being abused that your friend doesn't listen. So why does the President want to drink this poison from this friendly government, which government we don't know, because the Chinese have refused? What is it that the President needs to be advised to go on the right path?" Nawakwi asked.

"What language should people speak for him to listen? He's on a very destructive path, and not only to himself but to the general group. It's disappointing that we have one of the elderly statesmen who can't listen. He is not behaving like someone who is elderly. What we know is that people acquire wisdom through the years. He is behaving like a young man on a motor racing tract. For those who are younger than him, like he refused to listen to my brother Hakainde Hichilema, we are lost on how to advise him."

Nawakwi said President Banda should not claim that the mobile hospitals were an offer from a foreign country because there was nothing, which was free in the world. She said donor help always came with conditions.

"Whether it is from Chinese government, when they give you something, you see a horde of Chinese on the streets. That's not free. He can't say they [mobile hospitals] are free. This costs money and this will be paid at a future date, maybe not in his lifetime," Nawakwi said.

"You members of the press, I hope you will use a different language because we in politics have failed to advise him. He's bringing a lot of bad omen to his side, whether as MMD or himself. Tabomfwa [He doesn't listen]."

Nawakwi said President Banda had a fixed position on almost all the issues, which he thought were right.

She said she was completely at a loss regarding what President Banda wanted to achieve for the nation. Nawakwi said President Banda had gathered too much emotion against him in the last eight months for refusing to listen and it was clear that he was not enjoying peace. She said President Banda would not find peace for as long as people were complaining.

Nawakwi said President Banda should listen to advice because God usually speaks through his people.

"Munshebwa aile nefiko kubuko [He who doesn't listen will go with dirt to their in-laws]. Ask Mr Sata, he knows that saying. Even staunch supporters of MMD are saying ‘imwe mwalituletelela ubwafya [you have brought trouble in this nation]’. He should slow down, pick up a phone and call the fathers to go for a retreat, not with his family. That way he will find peace and direction. At the moment there is no direction," Nawakwi said.

"Why is he bent on self-destruction? It is like he is in love with mobile hospitals to the extent that he will be destroyed, this lack of peace will bring about destruction."

And Patriotic Front (PF) president Michael Sata said President Banda wanted to make quick money over the purchase of mobile hospitals and the sale of the 75 per cent shares in Zamtel.

He charged that President Banda wanted to become like his friend Frederick Chiluba who amassed many shoes and suits such that it became difficult to choose what to wear.

On Monday, Sata charged that President Banda was lying over the mobile hospitals and deserved a medal for being the best liar the country had ever had for president.

Sata's comments came in the wake of President Banda's remarks in Mansa on Radio Yangeni that mobile hospitals were an offer from a foreign country.

But Chinese government special representative on African affairs Ambassador Liu Guijin in May said the Chinese government did not play a role in this [US$53 million mobile hospital] deal, and it might be a business dealing between the Zambian government and a private Chinese company.

Labels: EDITH NAWAKWI, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 2:49 PM