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Rupiah is an irresponsible, playful old man – Kabimba

Rupiah is an irresponsible, playful old man – Kabimba
By George Chellah
Wed 10 Mar. 2010, 04:00 CAT

RUPIAH is an irresponsible and playful old man, Patriotic Front (PF) secretary general Wynter Kabimba has said.

Reacting to chief government spokesperson Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha's statement that he was ignorant in his observation over the weekend that President Rupiah Banda went to China on a tourism stint, Kabimba maintained that President Banda had not shown responsibility over his recent trip to China.

“My statement had everything to do with the fact that at the time when this country is beset by heavy floods and the people of Zambia are dying and there is no food, there was a story yesterday Monday in the government daily, not even in The Post, that Luangwa district has no food, at the time when the people of Zambia are losing shelter because the houses are collapsing, Mr Rupiah Banda decided to go on that State visit,” Kabimba said.

“It could not have made any difference if Mr Rupiah Banda had been a responsible person to have postponed that trip until he has attended to his domestic problems as a responsible person.”

Kabimba said Haiti and Chile recently experienced disasters and their leaders were with the people and attending to those calamities.

“We have seen what has happened in Haiti and Chile. Recently, there was an earthquake in Haiti and Chile.

You have not seen the presidents of those two countries going to America on state visits because they have been invited by Obama,” Kabimba said.

“They have remained in their countries to attend to their domestic problems because the priority of any President is towards his people, not to another foreign government. The priority of a responsible President cannot be towards a trip… and China would have cancelled that debt even without Mr Banda having gone to China if Mr Shikapwasha understands how government works.

That debt could have been cancelled even through an Ambassador in Beijing. It didn't have to take Mr Rupiah Banda to abandon his responsibilities here at home to get that debt cancellation.”

Kabimba said PF had nothing against the people or the government of China.

“It is him Shikapwasha that is sucking up to the Chinese government in the manner that is reminiscent of an irresponsible minister.

We have nothing against the Chinese government and it is not the debt cancellation that is going to stop the PF to condemn Mr Rupiah Banda that his act of going to China in the wake of the suffering of his people is an irresponsible act.

In fact, Shikapwasha himself has confirmed that the President went to China to sample some Chinese tourism. So it is Rupiah who has to apologise to Zambians and not me,” Kabimba said.

“So Mr Shikapwasha himself must go back and understand what his functions are and what the functions of a head of state are.


He President Banda is an irresponsible head of state and you can compare his degree of irresponsibility with that of the President of Chile and that of the President of Haiti. That's a parallel that any reasonable person can create.

“No responsible head of state would abandon the suffering of his people to go on a state visit. So I still insist that the man is irresponsible and the people of Zambia must look for better leaders and they must look for better ministers than the likes of Mr Shikapwasha.”

On Lt Gen Shikapwasha's statement that he should widely research on matters he wants to comment on before expressing his ignorance, Kabimba said he was more qualified than Lt Gen Shikapwasha.

“Between me and him, it's him that is a low-level fuctionary because the position that he holds in the MMD is lower than the position that I hold in PF.

So he is actually a low-level fuctionary himself,” Kabimba said.

“Even going by academic qualifications, I am more educated than Mr Shikapwasha. According to the list of parliamentarians and their qualifications which we saw recently, Mr Shikapwasha is a grade 12 and I hold a degree in law. Mr Shikapwasha is a grade 12 with some training as a pilot, which simply means a driver in the air.

So professionally, he is just a driver except that he was trained to drive in the air.”

Kabimba said he had more experience in government than Lt Gen Shikapwasha.

“I served in government for a period of 15 years rising to the position of Town Clerk at a very young age and I ran the City of Lusaka and the City of Kitwe.

So I am very experienced and I understand how the office of President works,” said Kabimba.

“My statement, if Mr Shikapwasha understands English, had nothing to do with who invited Mr Rupiah Banda to China. My statement had nothing to do with the debt cancellation between China and Zambia.”

Labels: RONNIE SHIKAPWASHA, RUPIAH BANDA, WYNTER KABIMBA

posted by MrK @ 6:23 AM