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Luapula chiefs’ stance on Chiluba not in Zambia’s interest – Kalala

Luapula chiefs’ stance on Chiluba not in Zambia’s interest – Kalala
Written by Mwala Kalaluka
Monday, October 12, 2009 7:45:45 AM

THE position by Luapula chiefs that those opposing the acquittal of their ‘son’ Frederick Chiluba should leave him alone is not in the interest of the nation, late president Levy Mwanawasa’s chief analyst for policy implementation and monitoring Jack Kalala has said.

Kalala said in an interview last Thursday that the stance taken by the chiefs who met in Mansa recently over demands that the government appeals against the acquittal of former president Chiluba, was not in the interest of Zambia today and tomorrow.

“The royal highnesses of Luapula should appreciate that former president Chiluba is a Zambian and he is subject to Zambian laws. He was taken to court not as a person from Luapula but as a citizen of Zambia, like any other citizen of this country,” Kalala said. “The royal highnesses should also appreciate that the people of Zambia made Chiluba their president because he was a Zambian and not because he came from Luapula.”

Kalala said the people of Zambia reposed their trust in Chiluba to run national affairs on their behalf.

“At the time when president Chiluba was president, their royal highnesses were proud of him. They were proud of him because the people of Zambia made him president,” Kalala said. “Now that the people of Zambia are demanding their former president to account for his acts while he was in office their royal highnesses should not complain because it is within the rights of Zambians to demand accountability from their former presidents.”

Kalala said it should also be appreciated that Chiluba was elected in 1991 and 1996 on the platform of transparency and accountability.

“The people of Zambia wanted and still want their government to be transparent and accountable to them. Now the people of Zambia, the people of Luapula inclusive, want president Chiluba to show transparency in how he ran national affairs and be accountable to them as he promised before he became president,” he said. “It is important that there should not be interference from anywhere in Chiluba’s case, as doing so would create a dangerous precedent for the nation.”

Kalala pointed out that in future, the country might have a president who would commit worse crimes against the people or a section of the Zambian population.

“The province and the chiefs where this person would come from will refuse to have him prosecuted in the same way the chiefs of Luapula want to do with Chiluba. This will divide the country,” Kalala cautioned.



“It will also give future presidents the impunity to abuse the office of the president for personal interests at the expense of development and the welfare of the people, including those of Luapula. So as can be seen, their resolution is not in the interest of Zambia today and of Zambia tomorrow.”

Kalala said another point to appreciate was that one of the parties to the Chiluba case, in this case the people of Zambia, was demanding an appeal.

“It will therefore be wrong for the people’s agent, which is the government or their royal highnesses from Luapula to say that their son should be left alone and why him alone? What about the others who have been convicted and those who are still appearing before the courts?” he asked. “Is there a secret arrangement that has been made that all cases of corruption would be dropped?”

Kalala said if such calls were tolerated, institutions such as the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), the Task Force on Corruption and the National Policy on Corruption should be dissolved, because allocating funds to these areas would just be a sheer waste of resources.

Kalala said it seemed that in a way the Luapula chiefs were not interested in the development of the province.

“But I do not think this is the position of the people of Luapula. The people of Luapula who are the subjects of these chiefs, like anybody in Zambia, want development and if public resources are abused by leaders the people would be deprived of development, particularly those in rural areas where there are no investors to create jobs. They will be condemned to perpetual poverty,” he said.

Kalala advised chiefs in Luapula in particular and Zambia in general to be advocates for development in their respective areas for their subjects to benefit from their leadership.

Kalala said if the chiefs in Luapula benefited from Chiluba, it does not mean that all their subjects benefited.

“They should not stop the demands of the people,” said Kalala.

Labels: CHIEFS, CHILUBA, JACK KALALA, MMD

posted by MrK @ 6:46 AM