Maravi

Milupi thinks he owns people of Luena – Rupiah

Milupi thinks he owns people of Luena – Rupiah
By Mwala Kalaluka in Luena
Fri 30 July 2010, 04:01 CAT

PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda on Wednesday said former Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Charles Milupi resigned from his parliamentary seat because he thought he owns the people of Luena.

And the MMD candidate in the Luena by-election, Mwangala Maopu, said the people of Nangula will have dreams of helicopters hovering over them after seeing the two that came with President Banda to the area.

Addressing a campaign rally at Nangula Basic School where he went to drum up support for Maopu, President Banda said Alliance for Development and Democracy (ADD) candidate Milupi’s ambition misled him to cause what he called a very strange election in Luena.

President Banda said in politics people could not be so stupid as to fail to know the true character of a leader even after voting for him.

“Mr Chairman Michael Mabenga please, tell the people that I really do not take them for granted and that is why I have come here today,” President Banda said.

“This election came about in very strange circumstances. This one is the most strange one in the sense that the member of parliament from Luena, Mr Charles Milupi, was elected by you people.”

President Banda said for reasons that the people of Luena perhaps understood but which his government does not understand, Milupi resigned.

“The one you chose did not have the support in the House; he was alone. He was an Independent and you can’t provide for the people on your own,” President Banda said.

“I want to say to you the people of this place that when you are choosing your leader you must know them and not how somebody talks to you or how rich they say they are. These are important but are not necessary for the choice of a leader.”

President Banda then went back to Milupi.

“That is why our friend Mr Charles Milupi has failed to continue,” he said.

President Banda said Zambia needed humble leaders to develop.

“Not the people who come and tell you that ‘me I was in America. I got this degree. I was on the Copperbelt’. It has nothing to do with the people of Luena,” he said.

President Banda whose campaign consistently focused on Milupi said the ADD candidate resigned because he thought he was doing the people of Luena a favour by being their member of parliament.

“He says ‘no I am going to form my own political party’,” President Banda said. “Fine, he is very welcome to do that but what about the mandate that you gave him as your member of parliament. Is that not well enough for the time being? For me I think that his ambition is what has misled him.”

President Banda said Milupi wanted to use the people of Luena as a bargain chip for his own political expediency.

“There can only be one reason why Mr Charles Milupi has resigned,” President Banda said. “It must be in the back of his mind that he owns you people. It is a mistake for any leader to take people for granted. He must come out in the open and say what he really wants. This kind of leadership is bad leadership.”

President Banda said the by-election that Milupi had necessitated was not in the people’s interest.

“The problem with our brother Mr Milupi is that he has forgotten the fact that you elected him,” President Banda said. “You must always remember that it is the people and the people collectively together can’t be stupid and miss your character and maybe they miss it once when they elect you, afterwards they find that you are a wrong person.”

President Banda said the main difference between Maopu and Milupi was that the latter was a loner.

He said a parliamentarian needed to belong to the party that had a majority in Parliament in order to have access to the country’s resources.

“Not yourself, alone speaking good English and boasting about your degrees and boasting about how much money you have. Members of parliament do not listen to that,” President Banda said.

“He Milupi has been member of parliament for Luena for four years. I do not recall receiving a call from him even for once…he could not do it because he was an Independent. He did not belong to the political party that has the majority in Parliament.”

At that point, noise from the advance party helicopter that was taking off detracted President Banda and he later called Maopu to speak to the people.

In his address, Maopu said he was known to the people.

“Today, a President has come to Nangula, even the helicopters. When we go back home our dreams will be about helicopters,” said Maopu.

“If you want to eat with the powers that be you have to be close to them. Today I am part of the Presidential family.”

President Banda said he liked Maopu very much.

“I think the other parties we should not waste our time to talk about them,” President Banda said.

He said the UPND was a provincial party for the people of Southern Province and that the PF was a party for the Bemba-speaking areas.

“The difference with us for instance with UPND is that they are a provincial party, they are a tribal party,” said President Banda.

“Even in Southern Province itself, the people are beginning to rebel against the UPND because they feel that party is isolating them from other parts of the country. Therefore, the UPND must be destined to fail.”

Labels: ADD, CHARLES MILUPI, PAC, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 3:42 PM