Rupiah has quiet covenant with Chiluba – Kabimba

Rupiah has quiet covenant with Chiluba – Kabimba
By George Chellah
Sun 19 Sep. 2010, 04:10 CAT

WYNTER Kabimba yesterday said President Rupiah Banda’s decision to trivialize Frederick Chiluba’s misdeeds and inequities is a clear indication that there is a quiet covenant between the President and Chiluba. And Kabimba said President Banda has shown that he is just not the right leader to move Zambia forward and restore donor confidence.

Reacting to President Banda’s statement during the official opening of the Fifth session of the tenth National Assembly, Kabimba, who is opposition PF secretary general, said President Banda’s remarks on corruption were embarrassing to the country.

“Zambia has become a laughing stock in the world as a result of President Banda’s lack of understanding of the relationship between the principles of international law and the domestic laws of Zambia. This is surprising when you take into account that President Banda served as foreign affairs minister in the UNIP government,” Kabimba said.

“The statement during his official opening of Parliament on Friday to the effect that Zambia cannot apply foreign laws in its fight against corruption shows a clear lack of understanding of the link between domestic law and international law.”
Kabimba reminded President Banda that there is only one definition of corruption acceptable world over.

“And this covers the abuse of public resources by those in authority or those in the private sector in collusion with the regime in authority. These public resources are composed of the Zambian taxpayers’ money and the money from cooperating partners, which comes from the taxpayers in the countries of the donor community,” Kabimba said.

“The lack of accountability of this taxpayers’ money whether foreign or domestic by the Zambian government cannot therefore be governed by Zambian laws alone.

And this is the reason why the Zambian government under the late Mwanawasa decided to go to London and commence an action against Chiluba, which led to the London High Court judgment in favour of the Zambian government.

“This action was commenced with the full understanding by president Mwanawasa then and George Kunda his President Banda’s Vice-President as Attorney General at the time, that a judgment in favour of the Zambian government would be enforceable in Zambia against a corrupt former president like Chiluba.”

He stressed that President Banda’s statement on corruption was reprehensive.
“For President Banda to go to Parliament where he is expected to make major policy pronouncements but instead end up trivializing the issue of corruption by Chiluba is not only reprehensive but a clear indication that there is a quiet covenant between President Banda and Chiluba, which the Zambian people do not know,” Kabimba said.

“It is also clear to any reasonable person that there is a special relationship between President Banda and Chiluba, which makes President Banda always be in the front line of defending Chiluba’s misdeeds and inequities and personal interests against the interests of the Zambian people that are believed to have voted for him into office.”

He said President Banda is prepared and had shown it very clear that given a choice between Chiluba and the Zambians’ interest he would choose to protect the personal interest of Chiluba however injurious it is against the people.

“It is for this reason that people like Bishop Paul Duffy of Mongu and Fr Mpundu of Lukulu cannot be blamed for airing the views and correctly so of the areas in which they serve that a change of the MMD regime is inevitable in 2011,” said Kabimba.

“It does not matter how fit Mr Rupiah Banda’s training is going to be for the 2011 presidential and general elections, he is just not the right President to move Zambia forward and restore the confidence of the international community for Zambia.”