Sata writes Rupiah over his attacks on donors

Sata writes Rupiah over his attacks on donors
By George Chellah
Mon 30 Aug. 2010, 10:15 CAT

PATRIOTIC Front (PF) leader Michael Sata has stated that the departure of donors from Zambia will not make Frederick Chiluba innocent in the eyes of the world. And Sata stated that it did not take any donor to convince Zambians that President Rupiah Banda’s defence of Chiluba was a matter of personal interest.

In a letter to President Banda dated August 28, 2010, which was also copied to the US Ambassador to Zambia, British High Commissioner to Zambia and the European Union (EU) leader of delegation, Sata condemned President Banda’s unwarranted attacks on the donor community.

“On Thursday 26th August 2010, the ZNBC television channel showed a clip during the 19:00 hours news in which you unleashed a scathing attack on the donors for their comment on the non-registration of the Chiluba London judgment by the High Court of Zambia two weeks ago. This was after your comments while in Southern Province this week when you urged the Zambian people to accept the refusal by the High Court to register the judgment in question as being a good judgment,” Sata stated.

“Since you became the Republican President of Zambia you have personally spearheaded the campaign together with your Vice-President vilifying me in the government print and electronic media that I did not understand and/or appreciate the role of donors and the importance of foreign investment in the social and economic development of our country.

“You have portrayed yourself as a ‘darling’ of the donors in the eyes of the donor community and the Zambian people. You have attempted to make them believe that I was against Chinese investment in Zambia by distorting my views and the stance of the Patriotic Front. However, you have promoted this self-righteous image for as long as your hold on power was not under threat from the opposition political parties as it seems to be the case now.”

He told President Banda that it did not take any donor to convince the Zambian people that his defence of Chiluba in all of his plunder cases was a matter of personal and not public interest.

“As your political consultant we do not expect you to allow Mr Chiluba to be subjected to any unfavourable judicial orders by our courts of law. But in doing so you must also allow others with divergent views to freely express themselves over these matters of public interest,” Sata stated.

“It is not the departure of the donors from Zambia which will make Mr Chiluba innocent in the eyes of the world. Your unwarranted attacks on the donors are, therefore, uncalled for and the people of Zambia and the donor community all deserve an unreserved apology from you personally.”

On Thursday, President Banda launched scathing attacks on the donors and Zambians who are demanding an appeal against High Court judge Evans Hamaundu’s decision to throw out the application by the state to register the London judgment against former president Chiluba.

President Banda, who described the donors’ actions as colonialism or neo-colonialism, asked them to pack their bags and return to their countries instead of “sticking their noses in our business to try and influence the elections.”

However, the British government on Friday stated that the London judgment was still in force and had not been overturned.

British High Commissioner to Zambia Tom Carter stated that the British government had, however, not made any public comment on the issue of the registration of the London judgment in Zambia.