Maravi

Chiluba campaigns against Sata, HH

Chiluba campaigns against Sata, HH
By Abigail Chaponda in Ndola
Tue 26 Jan. 2010, 04:01 CAT

FORMER president Frederick Chiluba on Sunday evening told tenants at Ndola's Itawa Flats that they should not vote for opposition leaders Michael Sata and Hakainde Hichilema because they will destroy the country once in power.

But Patriotic Front (PF) president Sata said Zambia is suffering because Chiluba destroyed the country by loving corruption and buying suits.

Chiluba, who was in the company of his wife Regina, former MMD provincial chairman Terence Findlay, Ndola District MMD vice publicity secretary Alex Mubanga popularly known as Shimpundu pankoloko, told the tenants at the flats that they would never see development in the nation in the event that they voted for the PF-UPND pact.

One of the tenants, who did not want to be named, revealed that Chiluba asked the tenants to give President Rupiah Banda and the MMD government a second chance by giving him a vote next year.

“Mr Chiluba came here around 18:00 hours and he came with the same message that he came with in 1996, that if we voted for MMD, he would make sure that he talks to President Banda so that he President Banda sells Itawa Flats to us. And in 1996 we believed him and voted for MMD.

But up to now we don't own the flats,” the tenant said. “We are tired of lies that politicians bring when they are soliciting for votes. Mr Chiluba lied to us in 1996 and we know that there is no way he is going to ask President Banda to sell us the flats. He told us that he had the power to ask the President to sell us the flats, but how?”

The tenant said Chiluba told them that President Banda was a good man and if they voted for him he would bring development and improve people's livelihood.

“Mr Chiluba's agenda was to ask us tenants from Itawa Flats to vote for President Banda next year. He told us that President Banda is a good President and we should vote for him and if we vote for him, he is to sell us the flats,” the tenant said.

“Tell me, if you tell someone that you want them to do a favour for you and they will sell you a house, would you not do that favour for them? But we are still thinking about what Mr Chiluba told us. We may vote for MMD or not, we are still thinking.”

Chiluba and Regina were also seen buying Shake-shake, a local opaque beer, from Buteko Shop for tomorrow's meeting that would be held at his Fatima Farm with MMD cadres.

But Sata said if Chiluba had followed the MMD's plan at inception, Zambians would not have been suffering and subjected to abject poverty.

Sata said Chiluba was to blame because he loved corruption more than the people he was governing.
“Zambia is suffering because of Chiluba. If he had followed the laid down procedure of the MMD party, we would have not been suffering. It is because of him that Zambia is like this. And when he says that UPND leader HH and Sata are going to destroy the country, what is he talking about? What is there to destroy because he has destroyed everything?” he wondered.

However, Sata challenged Chiluba to obtain a police permit to hold a political meeting rather than conducting door-to-door campaigns.

PF Itawa area councillor Menyani Zulu explained that there was no way Itawa Flats could be sold to the tenants because the council got a loan from Zambia National Commercial Bank (ZNCB) and the flats were put as collateral.

“We don't talk about Itawa Flats because the case is in court. I am not going to say much but all I want is to advise Chiluba to stop talking about Itawa Flats. He has no power over them. He should shut his mouth before he is cited for contempt of court. The case is in court, shut your mouth,” Zulu said.

And senior chief Mushili's son prince Robert Lwebesha said Chiluba was a hypocrite who did not deserve to be given the respect due to a former head of state because he had reduced himself to an MMD cadre.

Prince Lwebesha said Chiluba's visit to the Copperbelt was a concern because he lied to the nation that he was visiting his relatives when he was busy campaigning for President Banda.

“It is a shame to have a former head of state like Chiluba. He is deceiving people that he has come to attend funerals when he is campaigning. When the wind of change was blowing in 1990, it was blowing in the direction of what the people wanted and this is repeating itself,” he said. “People want change and it will not take a hypocrite like Chiluba to stop this change. We are sick and tired of being led by crooks like Chiluba. As a former head of state he should be a consultant, not a political cadre like what he has reduced himself to.”

Prince Lwebesha asked the government to revoke Chiluba's presidential allowances because taxpayers’ money should not be used to finance his political movements.

Some government sources have confirmed to The Post that State House has bankrolled Chiluba's trip to the Copperbelt so that he de-campaigns the PF-UPND pact, but his spokesperson Emmanuel Mwamba said he was in the area to attend to bereavements for family and friends.

Labels: CHILUBA, HAKAINDE HICHILEMA, PF-UPND, SATA

posted by MrK @ 5:40 PM