Maravi

Rupiah should take blame for Mufumbwe violence, says Sondashi

Rupiah should take blame for Mufumbwe violence, says Sondashi
By Patson Chilemba
Fri 07 May 2010, 03:10 CAT

LUSAKA lawyer Ludwig Sondashi yesterday said the recent violence prior and during the Mufumbwe parliamentary by-election should squarely be blamed on President Rupiah Banda and the MMD.

And Sondashi asked the government to be truthful by telling the nation that Vice-President George Kunda was unwell. Addressing the press at his office, Sondashi said the President held too much power such that he could get away with anything.

“The person who should bear the blame is the President. You know the reason why, because if you say that the Inspector General was running away from the cadres...my answer is that he was probably running away from the cadres because even MMD had brought cadres...and probably that bringing these cadres to Mufumbwe was allowed by the President, and since taking of these cadres to Mufumbwe was organised by the President, now you think he can stand up against the cadres?” Sondashi asked.

“He is fearing. This is what I am telling you. As a reporter you must change to appreciate the facts as they are. That man cannot stand against the head of state.”

Sondashi said it was theory to think that some people were appointed to serve the public.

“Some of you have never even worked in high office, so you don't know, but I am telling you that this is how it works. You may not agree with me, but one day you will agree,” he said.

Sondashi said institutions that were supposed to rescue the situation like the Electoral Commission of Zambia were toothless because they could not stand up to the President.

He said people had always complained about the operations of the ECZ but to no avail.
However, Sondashi said the two consecutive parliamentary by-election loses in North Western Province by the MMD showed that the people in the country wanted change.

On what critics view as express directives by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Chalwe Mchenga to prosecute Solwezi-Central member of parliament Watson Lumba, Sondashi said the double standards towards the delivery of justice by Mchenga was regrettable.

“The earlier learning of lawyers is that lawyers are friends of the poor. That is how we learnt law ourselves. But what is happening with lawyers of recent days is that they are losing these beautiful spiritual principles of defending the people who are trampled by the most powerful executive,” Sondashi said.

“But in the context of what I am saying what do you expect because DPP is directly working for the President? Even the President calls him to say 'don't do this', what do you expect? It's the system and it's the President. This is the President bringing his head out in all these matters. If you examine properly you will see the head of the President at the door of that problem.

This is what is happening. Let us remove a President from being a politician, from being a governor. The President must be head of state. If you put a Prime Minister, a Prime Minister will be controlled by Parliament because they are at par. But Parliament is answerable to the President."

On the government’s announcement that Vice-President Kunda had gone to South Africa for medical review, Sondashi responded: “I am surprised that government is not telling the truth because I think that our brother is sick. They should just come out to say that the Vice-President is ill so that people can know the truth. Why should they beat about the bush?”

Labels: BY-ELECTIONS, LUDWIG SONDASHI, MMD, POLITICAL VIOLENCE

posted by MrK @ 2:59 PM