Maravi

Attempting to divert public attention

Attempting to divert public attention
Written by Editor

RUPIAH Banda’s league is one of shameless liars. For them, everything is about deceit, intrigue and manipulation. Realising that they are coming under a lot of criticism and mounting political pressure over their fraudulent acquittal of their corrupt friend Frederick Chiluba, they are now seeking to divert public attention from this matter to something else. And in their narrow thinking, smearing the filth they have brewed over Zambian Airways on The Post is something that can stop this newspaper from exposing the crimes of their league.

This is not the first time Zambian Airways is being used to divert attention. When Dora Siliya was in trouble over her conduct in relation to the Zamtel valuation and the way she engaged RP Capital, the state media and the police were utilised to use Zambian Airways to smear us. It seems this tactic will continue.

It requires little intelligence – if a little is all one has – to realise that the Inspector General of Police was instructed by them to call a press briefing and say something, even if it doesn’t make sense, about their investigations of Zambian Airways.

Police Inspector General Francis Kabonde knows very well and he knows that we know that there is nothing criminal or wrong they have found in their investigations over Zambian Airways. What Kabonde and his friends don’t have is the honesty, the moral and professional courage to tell Rupiah a sad story, bad news, what he doesn’t want to hear – that they have found nothing criminal in the way the affairs of Zambian Airways were conducted. But it is this dishonesty, this inability by individuals occupying important government or state positions to live up to the honesty, integrity and courage required by their offices that is ruining this country. It’s this behaviour that is making our people lose confidence in and respect for public institutions, including the judicial process of our country.

On the issue of Zambian Airways, we have made it very clear that if there is anything we did wrong, if there is any crime we committed in our association or dealings with that company, we are ready to be arrested and be prosecuted. And if indeed we are found to have done something wrong, we deserve much harsher punishment because we know very well the evils and consequences of corruption. However, we can say with absolute certainty and confidence that no one, including the police and other agencies, will find a ngwee or a cent stolen by us from or through Zambian Airways. We say this because not a cent, not a ngwee, not even a free ticket ever came in our direction, ever came to us from Zambian Airways. For someone to find us with any wrongdoing, they have to create something, they have to concoct something. But this will be very difficult for them to do given the way financial matters move – they always leave a trail.

Who in this country doesn’t know that Rupiah accused and convicted us of having pocketed US$ 30 million from state institutions? It was after this conviction that the police and other agencies working with them were tasked to put up evidence and a case that tied up to our conviction by Rupiah. It’s a crazy way to do things. But that’s how Rupiah does things. He convicted us and then started going round looking for evidence to support his conviction. But his policemen can’t find anything, any evidence to support his conviction and now they are in a catch-22: they can’t go back to him and tell him that there is nothing and because they can’t do this, it means that they can’t also close the case. They have to be telling the same story of “the investigations are progressing well and have reached an advanced stage”. Their lies about seeking assistance to check foreign accounts of Zambian Airways or of individuals associated with it is nonsense. All the statements from the accounts of Zambian Airways can be found in Zambia and where needed can be obtained very quickly by those now in charge of this company, the receiver.

As for the liabilities with statutory bodies, they are not a secret; Zambian Airways had liabilities with the Development Bank of Zambia, NAPSA and ZRA. But these do not constitute crimes in any way. And Kabonde and his friends know this very well. Even Rupiah knows this very well. But theirs is an agenda to lie, to deceive and manipulate. They are not dealing with the truth and they are not interested in the truth.

Anyway, over Zambian Airways they will have no choice in the end but to swallow their own lies. And they are keeping this issue ‘alive’ just to use against us in the most desperate way to divert public attention and make us look like we are corrupt elements like them whenever they are in trouble. It won’t do. Let them find something else to use against us because the Zambian Airways issue won’t take them anywhere.

Well, this is extreme desperation. They are in a moment in which, to use Lenin’s words, in their desperation they are wrongly thinking that untimely inaction would be worse than untimely action. Truly, their untimely inaction to deal with this matter in an honest way and accept failure or defeat will be worse than their untimely action of trying to deceive the public that it’s just a matter of time before they “catch” us with something wrong over Zambian Airways. This will never happen because we did nothing wrong, nothing of a criminal nature. We didn’t run Zambian Airways the way they run their tuntembas. We have lost a lot of money – over K16 billion – in investments in that company. But we took nothing from it. And the debts of Zambian Airways are legitimate or genuine commercial liabilities of a company that faced serious and legitimate business challenges. The aviation industry is not an easy one the world over, especially over that period of very high fuel prices. Business problems, yes, Zambian Airways faced; corruption, no, never.

These guys are in a hurry, are desperate to find wrongdoings with us. And that desperation could be seen in Rupiah at his last press conference at State House when he declared: “We will catch them one day.” They haven’t caught us yet. They are hoping to catch us one day. If Rupiah had found anything on us, any crime committed by us, he wouldn’t have the patience to wait a second, a minute, an hour or a day to arrest and prosecute us. And this is why he is hoping to catch us one day because he hasn’t caught us.

But lies, deceit don’t live long, they don’t endure; their lifespan is very short and that’s why they are said to have shorter legs. It won’t be long before it’s permanently established that Rupiah lied about us stealing US$ 30 million from state institutions.

We have nothing to fear and this is why we have been telling Rupiah and his agents in the police to arrest and prosecute us so that this matter can be put to rest permanently. But they are not ready for that. Why? It’s simply because doing so will quickly reveal their lies, deceit, manipulation, hatred and malice against us. If they proceed to court without the necessary evidence, this will clearly be a case of malicious prosecution for which litigations will be commenced in the future against those behind such proceedings.

For now, their desperate attempt at diverting public attention from their shameful complicity in the ridiculous and ludicrous acquittal of Chiluba will not work. Everyone can see what they are trying to do. Desperate men do desperate things; they can even cling to a straw to avoid drowning.

Labels: CHILUBA, RUPIAH BANDA, THE POST, ZAMBIAN AIRWAYS

posted by MrK @ 1:18 PM