Rupiah must be retired in national interest - Mpombo

Rupiah must be retired in national interest - Mpombo
By Patson Chilemba and George Chellah
Mon 28 June 2010, 08:00 CAT

GEORGE Mpombo yesterday observed that President Rupiah Banda has now become a danger to the country and must be retired in national interest.

And Southern African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (SACCORD) executive director Lee Habasonda warned President Banda that Zambia risks becoming isolated to the peril of millions of its people.

Reacting to President Banda’s assertions that nobody asked the donors to help Zambia and should, therefore, not blackmail the country, Mpombo, who is Kafulafuta MMD member of parliament, described President Banda’s conduct as highly irresponsible.

He said President Banda’s cantankerous remarks had the potential of sending Zambia’s relations with the donors into abysmal depths and could exacerbate the economic hardships of the poor.

“Mr Banda has rehabilitated himself economically from what he was when he was on the farm in Chipata, and his present behaviour puts Zambia at a great risk economically.

Therefore, he should be retired in national interest,” Mpombo said. “He has become a big disaster for the country. This is a man who says he is stubborn; he can do what he thinks. This country is sleep-walking into a major political catastrophe under Rupiah Banda. I think MMD should retire President Banda in 2011 in national interest.”

Mpombo said President Banda was unnecessarily creating political brinkmanship between Zambia and the donor community.

“The President must know that the economic situation of most Zambians is totally miserable and cannot be allowed to be compounded by his irresponsible remarks. And also President Banda, since he came into office, he has been trying to reverse the economic successes, good governance and also Zambia’s standing in the world,” Mpombo said.

“While it is incontestably true that President Banda as an individual has sufficiently rehabilitated himself economically, the same cannot be said of the ordinary Zambians. The outbursts against the donor community were done in a very irresponsible manner.”

Mpombo said President Banda’s strong-guy approach would not help because the country depended much on donor support.

“The top leadership can go to Cape Town and London for treatment while ordinary Zambians will remain languishing without any attention,” he said.

Mpombo said the road sector was very important to the development of the nation and the withdrawal of funding, coupled with President Banda’s arrogance would have a negative effect on the country.

“Therefore, we expect the President will see a need to handle himself in a Presidential manner to recognise that the road sector is critical. You see, during the reign of president Levy Mwanawasa we saw the country qualify for HIPC funds on good financial economic management,” Mpombo said. “We saw a lot of support coming into the country. So he should not go out of his way to destroy what he found. My appeal is that he should not extend his so-called arrogance to the donor community because it’s the ordinary people who will suffer.”

Mpombo said President Banda was a highly irresponsible leader and should not think that he could bring the donor community under his armpits like he had done with state institutions.

“He can reduce the office of the DPP Director of Public Prosecutions to the state of a special assistant but certainly he should not extend his antagonism and his so-called arrogance to the international community,” he said.

Mpombo said President Banda was driving the country backwards by wiping away all the gains the nation witnessed under president Mwanawasa’s leadership.

He said this was the more reason why Zambians were asking President Banda to minimise on his tourist travels in order to appreciate the gravity of the situation in the country.

On President Banda’s sneaking out of Zambia to other countries, Mpombo said the presidential Challenger should be fitted with facilities that could enable him to work while flying.

“In that converted form, there must be video conferencing facilities so that the President could be running the country through video conferencing wherever he may be. You can’t have a President that is gallivanting all over the shore and he just sneaks out of the country without informing the nation,” Mpombo said.

And Habasonda said SACCORD was shocked that the President was now in the forefront of encouraging poor financial controls and lack of accountability in the public service.

“President Banda’s reaction to donor concerns over the continued abuse and theft of funds meant for different sectors in the country clearly shows an amazing level of pride that borders on ineptitude and laissez faire attitude towards prudent management of national resources,” Habasonda said.

“We believe that President Banda having been a diplomat and foreign minister must have taken a different approach to the issues of donor support. The President needs to be humble enough to recognise that while the government has not asked any of the donors to come and support Zambia, the Zambian government is on record indicating how much it needs donor funds to be able to carry out various national programmes.

“Just in the past week, in reaction to the PF leader Michael Sata’s call for donors to cut aid to Zambia, the government condemned the call and used all sorts of groups in justifying how relevant donor support was to the country. The state media was used to condemn the calls by Mr Sata and made headlines most part of the week. Are these not contradictions?”

He said politicising donor aid would only serve to hurt the poorest in our country.
“If donors withhold their funding to Zambia, it’s not the President who will suffer; it’s the ordinary people who have no means of accessing private health care and other services.

The President is well looked after using the heavy taxes Zambians are paying and may have accumulated enough funds but he must keep in mind the underprivileged people that he governs,” Habasonda said. “President Banda’s adoption of Mugabe tactics on donors will not help Zambia in any way.

We all fully understand how Zimbabwe was destroyed by a leadership which was thriving on the rhetoric of sovereignty when nearly all its political and economic structures were dependent on those they vilified. The donors in Zambia are putting in a lot of money and there is no way President Banda expects them to keep quiet when money from their nationals is being abused.”

He said there was no way he should expect donors to toast glasses of wine in the business-as-usual manner when revelations of abuse of funds are made.
“For sure, this condescending attitude towards donors will be costly. The Zimbabwe fiasco should offer a sufficient lesson.

We would like to advise the President that fighting those who seek accountability will not only make Zambians suffer but will make this country a pariah state which will become isolated to the peril of millions of Zambians. We are therefore appealing to him to reflect on the best ways of handling sensitivities in international relations,” he said.