Maravi

Rupiah under pressure to purge Levy’s tribesmen

Rupiah under pressure to purge Levy’s tribesmen
By George Chellah
Sun 10 Jan. 2010, 04:00 CAT

FORMER State House special assistant for policy implementation and monitoring Jack Kalala yesterday disclosed that traditional leaders from Eastern Province instructed President Rupiah Banda to purge the late Levy Mwanawasa's tribesmen from his administration.

In an interview, Kalala, who challenged President Banda to deny his revelations, said former science and technology minister Gabriel Namulambe's initial statement over the late Mwanawasa's legacy is deeper than meets the eye.

“This game of divide and rule is going to worsen the situation. What they want is to alienate former defence minister George Mpombo and Gabriel Namulambe from the chiefs and the people. But it won't work, my advice to them is to work to develop the country and unite the people of Zambia instead of dividing them,” Kalala said. “The issue that Namulambe talked about is deeper than what meets the eye.

It was started by President Banda and the chiefs in Eastern Province for no apparent reason. Before the elections, the chiefs in Eastern Province had a meeting with the then vice-president Mr Banda where he was told that when elected President he should get rid of all the Mwanawasa people, the people from Central, Coppperbelt and North Western provinces.

“After the elections, Mr Banda visited Eastern Province where he had a meeting with the chiefs in Chipata. He was asked by the chiefs why he had not implemented their advice. The President was very embarrassed because Namulambe was there. The dismissing from government of people who are perceived to be Mwanawasa's people is a premeditated programme, an agreed upon programme, which Mr Banda is carrying out. This is what happened, it was said and I am not cheating. If I am cheating let the President deny this. I challenge him to deny that, we knew about it and we just kept quiet.”

He said the late Mwanawasa's tribesmen did not understand why the Eastern Province chiefs and President Banda resolved to purge them from the government.

“Mwanawasa himself never segregated, no wonder he even appointed someone from Eastern Province as his Vice-President in the name of Mr Rupiah Banda. His first ADC was from Eastern Province as well. So we don't understand where this hatred is coming from,” he said.

He said the people and traditional leadership of Copperbelt rural were very much aware of these manoeuvres.

“People didn't want to react then because we believe in the unity of the country. If President Banda chooses not to work with the Lambas and Lenjes he will not be forced to do so. Since this matter had already been agreed upon, it's wrong for the same people to turn around and start dividing the victims and to try to show that the chiefs do not care about their people,” Kalala said. “These double-standards which are being played are not correct. If the chiefs on their own had expressed support for the opposition, the government people were going to cry foul that chiefs should not get involved in politics. In this case because it suits them, they drive to the chiefs to force opinions out of them and out of courtesy they said what they said.”

He said President Banda should address issues they had agreed upon in Eastern Province, which had actually offended the people from Copperbelt rural.

“Why should they be segregated in their own country and by their own President and by their own government. Is it illegal or is it unconstitutional for someone to belong to the same tribe as Mwanawasa?” Kalala asked. “What wrong did Mwanawasa commit against this country? Is developing a country wrong, is implementing the fight against corruption wrong? And is promoting good governance wrong? In fact, most of the things they are boasting about now if not all were done and initiated by Mwanawasa's administration.”

He said the projects being commissioned now were started by President Mwanawasa.

Kalala said the people of Copperbelt and Central provinces knew the origins of the anonymous documents that were posted on the Internet and only ended up in the state newspapers as summarised versions.

He explained that the articles in question malign the late Mwanawasa's administration.

“For the sake of this government and to allow this government to work for the people of Zambia we have kept quiet. But our quietness should not be mistaken that we lack the capacity to hit back. We have sufficient deadly missiles in stock. If we have withheld them it's because we want this government to work for this country and succeed, we don't want to be the cause for its failure,” said Kalala.

“My advice to the President and his team in the government is that they should work towards uniting the 73 tribes of Zambia. Mr Banda is the President of all the people in Zambia not to divide them. I should also say that what Namulambe said did not come from him. It came from the people on the ground and what they are trying to do to him is worsening the situation. It's not helping the situation.”

Labels: JACK KALALA, RUPIAH BANDA, TRIBALISM

posted by MrK @ 4:11 PM