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Kunda is the most useless Vice-President, charges Sata

Kunda is the most useless Vice-President, charges Sata
Written by Chibaula Silwamba and Maluba Jere
Monday, August 17, 2009 2:09:28 AM

GEORGE Kunda is the most useless Vice-President Zambia has ever had since independence, Patriotic Front (PF) president Michael Sata has charged. And United Party for National Development (UPND) president Hakainde Hichilema has said Vice-President Kunda is exhibiting uselessness.

Meanwhile, the Zambia National Union of Teachers (ZNUT) has expressed concern at Vice-President Kunda’s recent remarks in the run up to the Chitambo by-election that teachers in the area would rig elections in favour of the opposition PF.

Reacting to Vice-President Kunda’s statement that the pact between PF and UPND was useless and failed to dislodge the MMD, Sata said Vice-President Kunda himself was useless because he was not an inspiration to his President, Rupiah Banda.

“Kunda is useless; most useless Vice-President this country has ever had. In the past 45 years we have had vice-presidents who have been an inspiration and supporter to the incumbent president but this boy is the most useless Vice-President Zambia has ever had,” Sata said. “If he said the pact was useless, why talk about useless things? It’s because he is useless himself. If he was not useless, you can’t talk about a useless thing.”

Sata said the MMD won the Chitambo by-election in a dubious manner.

“I told you people before the voting started in Chitambo that George Kunda and his cousin [Electoral Commission of Zambia director] Dan Kalale the had printed 1,500 ghost voters [cards]. Your paper published it and they [Vice-President Kunda and Kalale] never challenged me,” Sata said.

“The votes which they are saying they have won if you deduct 1,500 they have lost the election. But anyway we don’t mind they can steal today and normally all thieves we are seeing what is happening after they have left office.

“If George Kunda thinks Luapula Province is going to MMD, I am pleading with George Kunda to advise his seven rebel members of parliament to resign so that we go and knock them out in Luapula. Even if he goes to kill all the hippos, we will knock him down.”

Sata said the current government was a specimen of liars.

“[Works and supply minister] Mike Mulongoti lied in Parliament that I am admitted to hospital, he didn’t mention the name but he said one of the pact leaders has been admitted to hospital but I am not admitted to hospital,” Sata said. “Rupiah Banda’s government is a government of liars; it’s a specimen of liars.”

He said the judiciary was compromised because the Minister of Justice, who is also Vice-President Kunda, was a dishonest person.

“Even if I killed a cockroach, I would not hire George Kunda to defend me,” said Sata.

And Hichilema said Vice-President Kunda was not qualified to talk about the PF-UPND pact because he was below par.

“It is George Kunda who is exhibiting uselessness himself. It is him who took government vehicles to Chitambo and removed number plates on them so it is a disgrace that a Vice-President who is also a lawyer is leading in electoral corruption. He is exhibiting high levels of unprofessionalism. We have no basis of comparing George Kunda and ourselves. He and the MMD are corrupt, they were corrupt in Chitambo. AVAP [Anti Voter Apathy] has said it, FODEP [Foundation for Democratic Process] has said so and I saw it myself so really he has nothing to celebrate.”

Hichilema also said there were a total of 22 local government by-elections held on Thursday last week and that his party took part in 14, out of which it won 13.

“We took part in 14 and won 13. We shared the seats as a pact. The PF took part in eight and won three. When we add those seats you will see that we as a pact won 16 out of the 22 seats,” said Hichilema. “So that is what I mean when I say there is nothing for George Kunda to celebrate. They have been rejected. The pact got 73 per cent while the MMD got 27 per cent. It is only a fool like George Kunda who can celebrate that. And statistics don’t lie and they have clearly shown that the MMD is going down.”

Meanwhile, ZNUT president Henry Kapenda stated that Vice-President Kunda’s comment was in bad taste to the teaching profession as well as the general public.

Kapenda wondered what Vice-President Kunda’s comment was now that the MMD had won the by-election.

“Does it imply that the teachers rigged elections in favour of MMD?” Kapenda asked. “It is not expected of the Republican Vice-President to express concerns of election rigging in view that government has put in place stringent measures to ensure that elections are not rigged.”

He said such comments just confirmed that the government was not confident with the existing rules and regulations in the electoral process.

Kapenda urged the government to uphold and respect the teaching profession and not use teachers as tools for campaigns. He said that to single out teachers as agents of rigging was also unfair in that there were many players involved in the electoral process to ensure elections were conducted in a transparent manner.

“What I want to emphasise is the need to respect teachers and the teaching profession. It is a known fact that teachers play a very important role during elections, whether parliamentary or presidential,” said Kapenda.

Vice-President George Kunda last week expressed fear that some teachers who were presiding officers in the Chitambo by-election would rig elections in favour of the PF following their decision to shun his campaign rally.

Labels: GEORGE KUNDA, HAKAINDE HICHILEMA, SATA

posted by MrK @ 1:10 AM