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Rupiah’s anger is fanning a crisis of untold proportion – Nawakwi

Rupiah’s anger is fanning a crisis of untold proportion – Nawakwi
By Chibaula Silwamba
Mon 26 Apr. 2010, 04:40 CAT

FDD president Edith Nawakwi has said the amount of anger and hatred portrayed by President Rupiah Banda during his Kitwe media briefing last week is fanning crisis of untold proportion, and advised him to maintain etiquette befitting the office of Head of State.

And Nawakwi said President Banda’s advisors are making him a laughingstock world over because they mislead him to say things without research and analysis.

In an interview in the wake of President Banda’s outbursts during his media briefing in Kitwe where he made wide-ranging verbal attacks on PF-UPND leaders Michael Sata, Hakainde Hichilema, Post editors, PF-controlled councils and Fr Frank Bwalya describing them as mad, peculiar and evil, Nawakwi said President Banda’s behaviour was not befitting a head of state, who is also chairperson of the Great Lakes Region and SADC deputy chairperson for the troika on peace, security and defence.

“Political etiquette befitting the office of the President must be maintained. If you saw that ZNBC clip, what came to my mind is that what would President Ian Khama of Botswana say if he saw that clip? What would President Jakaya Kikwete say if he saw that clip? What would the President of Mozambique or Namibia say if they saw that clip? What would DRC President Joseph Kabila say if he saw that clip?” Nawakwi asked.

“I think that amount of anger and hatred portrayed by the head of state is fanning crisis of untold proportion. What he does in that video clip is that he is unleashing an army of violent cadres against those he perceives as his opponents and I think that it is totally uncalled for, it’s unnecessary. President Banda must maintain minimum decorum to demonstrate that at that level, it’s not Rupiah Banda at stake, it’s the office of the Presidency that is at stake. His political career maybe at stake but as long as he is the custodian of the Zambian Constitution, he surely deserves to maintain some minimum political decorum.”

Nawakwi advised President Banda to be chivalrous in his conduct because he was not just an ordinary person but the Republican President.

“I mean he just provided entertainment. Also, on a very serious note, the address indicates that democracy in this country is at stake. There is no room for alternative views and political discourse in this country.

Anyone who says anything different is the enemy of the government or the President. To the bottom line, you are saying the President doesn’t want opposition at all. For a head of state to stand up and insult a private citizen like Fr Bwalya, I think that when the MMD say ‘people are insulting the President’, what is the description of insults when the President is saying the things he said on TV?

When he says insulting words, it is music to MMD but when others use the same words or in fact much more moderate words or metaphors, they stand up and say, ‘you are abusing the President’,” Nawakwi said.

“Even if Fr Bwalya is wearing a red cloth… Don’t make Fr Bwalya look like he is Satan; certainly he also has a following. The more you talk about him, the more you incarcerate him, the bigger his following becomes.”

Nawakwi advised President Banda to learn from the 2001 Third Term campaign that became popular because of then president Frederick Chiluba supporters’ harassment of his political opponents.

“The President should maintain his composure. We need peace and stability. The head of state is nothing but a beacon of peace and stability,” she said.

Nawakwi, a former finance minister said President Banda’s analysis of PF-controlled councils’ management of public funds was wrong.

“It’s very sad that someone in government chooses to mislead the President and make him a laughingstock to the whole world. It is public knowledge that the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are on record that personal emoluments for central governments are way over 65 per cent of total revenue collected in the country. He just needs to go to the Yellow Book,” Nawakwi said.

“There is nothing but amusement for those of us who have been at Ministry of Finance and are privy to the figures as to how much government is spending on personal emoluments, conferences, trips etc. I am very dissatisfied with the people around him who feed the President with information which is basically making him a laughingstock.”

Nawakwi said she expected President Banda and his economic advisors to analyse why the councils had huge expenditures on personal emoluments.
She said the President’s advisors were not scrupulous in their work.

“The person who prepared that speech for the President failed to answer simple questions. I think we need to have a bit of analysis,” Nawakwi said. Now, if you say, ‘they got K34 billion and 44 per cent was spent on personal emoluments,’ what is the structure of their total budget?”

Nawakwi attributed the high expenditure on personal emoluments to the sizes of the workforce of councils, adding that this was not in PF-controlled councils only but the entire civil service.

“All councils are bloated, the civil service was bloated. That was why in 1990s we undertook what was called Civil Service Reform Programme. Part of that programme was aimed at reducing the bloated workforce. That exercise has never been undertaken in councils; the bloated council system is inherited from UNIP through MMD 1 true blue and now MMD light blue,” Nawakwi said.

“So why single out PF-led councils? Why not UPND-led councils? Why not MMD-led councils?

What is the structure of their personal emoluments as compared to capital investments? Even in the central government, the budget for personal emoluments is in trillions. In as much as some of us don’t like PF, it’s very important that we are treated to balanced information. What you are seeing in terms of road maintenance and other projects is money from donors.”

Nawakwi said even MMD-controlled councils were also wanting.

“I was very amused when I saw the President chastise the PF-led councils rates and I quoted him saying that ‘you have to dodge potholes in PF councils’. I wonder who runs the councils between Chinsali and Mpika and Kasama?” Nawakwi asked. “Can he tell us which councils run these roads? Can the President please come out in the open and tell us who runs feeder roads? Are the dilapidated hostels at UNZA also run by PF? Have they now put an incinerator at Chipata clinic? Is that also PF?”

Labels: EDITH NAWAKWI, POLITICAL VIOLENCE, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 2:50 PM