Maravi

Chiluba has more enemies than friends – Sata

Chiluba has more enemies than friends – Sata
By Patson Chilemba and Abigail Chaponda
Tue 02 Feb. 2010, 04:01 CAT

PATRIOTIC Front (PF) president Michael Sata yesterday charged that Frederick Chiluba has more enemies than friends especially in areas like Ndola where he grabbed another man's wife.

But former president Frederick Chiluba's spokesperson Emmanuel Mwamba said the PF leadership in Ndola are behind attempts to set ablaze Bank of Zambia Guesthouse where Chiluba lodged in order to scare him away from the campaigns.
Reacting to Mwamba's statement that the PF leadership were behind attempts to set ablaze the Bank of Zambia Guesthouse, Sata said PF should not be blamed over the incident.

“Emmanuel Mwamba and Frederick Chiluba are now guilty conscience, and they have to jump to conclusion and apportion blame to PF. PF allowed Chiluba to move freely on the Copperbelt, how does PF come in now? He went to all areas using taxpayers’ petrol and taxpayers,” Sata said.

“They expected confrontation, but since they did not get it, they want to create lies. They went to attack PF and UPND. There was no need of attacking them. Frederick Chiluba has more enemies than friends, so therefore the onus is on him to behave. You should not forget Ndola; that is where he grabbed somebody's wife.”

Sata said some people whom Chiluba addressed in his clandestine meetings on the Copperbelt were PF members and they would have acted on him if they were violent.

“They did not burn him in those meetings, why should they wait until he goes to sleep? They would want to create an excuse. It is them MMD who are talking of war, war with who? Whoever is promoting this violence should stay away from violence. We said 'let this man say what he wants to say even if he insults someone',” Sata said.

“All this violence including threats to kill Fr Augustine Mwewa, threats to gang-rape people in Lusaka is not helpful. But Emmanuel Mwamba has jumped to conclusions. He is a civil servant, he should say if he has turned political. He is not employed to talk about politics.”

Sata said Inspector General of Police Francis Kabonde and Zambia Security Intelligence Services director general Reggies Phiri were working under very difficult conditions by offering protection to a person who President Rupiah Banda had given money to carry out campaigns.

“Rupiah Banda is using … money to try to break peace in this country. Those people on the Copperbelt know very well that Chiluba stole a lot of money. He should not be a champion of destruction. What he speaks about me, I might not mind, but what about my sympathisers?” Sata asked. “They should advise him properly because there has never been a day he has behaved normally. He is working for his wife, his wife is a convict. They have been given all the property on the Copperbelt; they should be sober in appreciating the gifts from Rupiah Banda, because the people who have seen them receiving those gifts from Rupiah Banda are not happy.”

Sata asked Chiluba to stop being always abnormal and behave like former president Dr Kenneth Kaunda.

But Mwamba said the PF leadership in Ndola plotted against Chiluba.
“We received reports that the leadership of PF in Ndola had plotted to scare away Dr Chiluba from the campaigns, by embarking on scare tactics such as the so-called petrol bomb, to stone Dr Chiluba and to barricade wherever he was going. The people that brought this information were asked to take this matter to the police,” he said.

Mwamba said Zambia was a democratic state and those embarking on violence and criminal activities did not belong to this era.

He said Chiluba lived under constant threats for 20 years when he was in the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), and would not submit to the recent threats of blackmail against him.
“So these recent threats by known thugs cannot in any way stop or derail Dr Chiluba's normal life,” Mwamba said.

He said there was no merit in the recent assertions that the Chilubas had been given back the properties on the Copperbelt.
After the interview, Mwamba asked this author to call him again because he had something else to say.

After being called, Mwamba said he dismissed the story in yesterday's edition of The Post that Chiluba's trip on the Copperbelt had stirred anger, saying the former president was well-received when he went to the area.
He also U-turned on his earlier statement, that Chiluba had gone to the Copperbelt for campaigns.

“Yes, he went for funerals, but wherever he is, people come with problems of their own, what occurred in Ndola is nothing unique. We do that even here in Lusaka,” said Mwamba. “I can show you letters, they people want Dr Chiluba to intervene. We received a petition by the people that live at these flats behind Emmasdale Police. They were evicted and they have been seeking Dr Chiluba's intervention, you know the issue of housing was a central policy for Dr Chiluba.”

Mwamba said the singular complaint on the Copperbelt was that the PF controlled councils had failed to perform.
And MMD sources disclosed that Chiluba returned to Lusaka from Ndola on Sunday.
The sources said Chiluba would go back to the Copperbelt in March and would stay a little bit longer.

Chiluba's recent campaigns on the Copperbelt for President Banda provoked anger as some unknown people on Friday attempted to set ablaze the Bank of Zambia Guesthouse where he lodged.
The source said the suspected people threw a 2.5-litre container of petrol on one of the thatched structures and the roof caught fire.

State House recently bankrolled Chiluba to campaign for President Banda on the Copperblt and decampaign Sata, the PF and the PF-UPND pact. However, Mwamba said chiluba had gone to attend to family bereavements. While on the Copperbelt, Chiluba has held meetings in most towns there, asking people to vote for President Banda in next year's elections.

Labels: CHILUBA, SATA

posted by MrK @ 11:34 AM