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Withdraw Chiluba’s benefits demands Nsanda

Withdraw Chiluba’s benefits demands Nsanda
Written by Mwala Kalaluka
Wednesday, September 23, 2009 5:57:26 PM

CHIMWEMWE PF member of parliament Willie Nsanda on Tuesday demanded that second Republican president Frederick Chiluba’s salary entitlement be withdrawn following his engagement in active politics.

And Katuba MMD member of parliament Jonas Shakafuswa said the political era of bullying others was long gone and that it is only unreasonable people that use government resources to gain political mileage.

Contributing to the debate on the President Rupiah Banda’s speech at the opening of the fourth session of the tenth National Assembly, Nsanda said the law of the land should be followed on the matter.

Nsanda, who did not expressly mention the name Frederick Chiluba in his debate, however, said when a president retires he should never get back to active politics.

“But today retired presidents are taking (government) workers to various political arenas,” Nsanda said.

Nsanda said it was commendable that former president Dr Kenneth Kaunda was involved in the fight against the deadly HIV/AIDS pandemic but that there was a former head of state who had been taking government entourages to provinces to go and support some political party.

“If a former president engages in politics he ceases getting paid. We need to follow the law so that some of them stop getting paid,” said Nsanda as energy and water development deputy minister Allan Mbewe signaled for a point of order.

Mbewe asked if Nsanda was in order to debate the way he was doing.

“…Debating so fluently, without realizing that whatever he is saying he is shooting himself in the leg,” he said. “In the previous regime it is this same former president who was supporting a certain political party.”

But some UPND and PF members asked Mbewe, amidst noise from both sides of the House, to reveal which former president he was referring to in his point of order because Nsanda had not mentioned a particular name.

“Which one?” the opposition parliamentarians asked Mbewe who responded: “Whichever former president that he has not mentioned but is he in order to mention that he is supporting a certain political party?”

Speaker Amusaa Mwanamwambwa did not make any ruling on Mbewe’s point of order and he urged Nsanda to continue with his debate.

Earlier Speaker Mwanamwambwa made a standard ruling that those parliamentarians that had been in the Executive but were now speaking from the bank bench or opposition side were free to criticize some of the decisions they were party to in the past.

He said in doing so such members should consider the issue of their morality and conscience.

And Shakafuswa said he wanted to take an earlier debate by Chongwe MMD member of parliament Sylvia Masebo as his own, except that he wanted to add a few points.

Shakafuswa said whilst appreciating the efforts that were being done by the government there was need to remove an invisible hand.

Shakafuswa then focused his debate on the road equipment that was recently dispatched to the rural areas to improve the road network.

He noted that while a schedule of how the road equipment would be circulated in the areas of the Central Province, this equipment had not reached his constituency.

“I appreciate the effort that was done in Chitambo but the people of Katuba are also waiting for their turn,” Shakafuswa said with emotion. “While the people of Chitambo are happy…my people are not happy.”

He said his people were pressuring him because of a ‘bad decision’ by someone to take the road equipment to Chitambo.

“If we want to use government resources for political gain that game is over,” he said. “It is only unreasonable who use government resources to for political gain.”

Shakafuswa said there was need to treat Zambians equally.

“We should not allow people to think that they own the resources, which belong to the people,” he said. “We should allow them to think that they own resources which belong to their families.”

Shakafuswa said politicians ought to pat the people of Zambia on the back for the peace that the country was enjoying.

He said there were politicians who usually want to resort to intimidation if they failed to woo their opponents.

“The era of bullying is long gone,” Shakafuswa said. “Things come and go. Today you can shine on a seat borrowed from the Zambian people, it won’t be yours forever. The time when you realize that you might realize that it is too late.”

Labels: CHILUBA, JONAS SHAKAFUSWA, WILLIE NSANDA

posted by MrK @ 4:58 PM