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Rupiah must apologise to donors – Nawakwi

Rupiah must apologise to donors – Nawakwi
By Chibaula Silwamba
Thu 09 Sep. 2010, 04:10 CAT

EDITH Nawakwi yesterday charged that President Rupiah Banda’s verbal onslaught on donors is unreasonable and asked him to apologise.

In an interview following President Banda’s threats to Western donors and diplomats to pack their bags and go for questioning his administration’s laxity in the fight against corruption, Nawakwi said President Banda’s statement was his personal opinion and not representative of the views of Zambians.

“I am extremely disappointed and I suggest that the President just says to the donors that ‘that outburst was uncalled for, out of context’ and therefore that was his personal opinion and he is not speaking on behalf of the Zambian people. From time to time, every individual is entitled to personal opinion and the donors will understand. He needs to call them into his office, apologize quietly for what he said so that we can continue with our programmes,” said Nawakwi, who is president of the Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD).

“I think he said it in the heat of the moment. I don’t think he even expected himself to be heard saying that. I don’t expect the President who is a beggar to tell our benefactors like that. Of course we don’t deserve interference from outside but what type of interference.”

She told donors to listen to the pleas from Zambians to them not to cut their aid.
“If the President doesn’t want to apologise to the donors, may I persuade the donors that please do not pull out, feel sympathy for the Zambian people. Politicians have options,” Nawakwi said.

“I beg you on behalf of the Zambian children, mothers and others that continue supporting us and don’t listen to politicians who come and go. Listen to the Zambian people; you are not accredited to this country not because of the people who are in office but because you want to support the Zambian people.”

She advised President Banda to take donors’ advice calmly and quietly and use diplomatic channels if he was not happy with their statements.

“But if you conduct diplomatic etiquette in the press, honestly, it is out of context and unreasonable and unexpected of a head of state especially a head of state, who is running a country which is totally dependant on donor support for budget,” said Nawakwi, a one-time finance minister. “What if donors don’t give us money for the 2011 budget because our budget is crafted in such a way that part of it has to be financed by tax payers abroad? You can’t say that unless you are totally insensitive to the plight of your people.”

She said this justified the calls by some quarters that the MMD must pack their bags and go.

She said Zambians did not want to have the MMD in power for 27 years like they did with the UNIP government.

Nawakwi recalled that President Banda was part of the UNIP government of Kenneth Kaunda that had told donors in the 1980s to pack and go, leading to polarization of the economy.
She said it was unfortunate that President Banda was now belittling the contribution from countries like Sweden, the United Kingdom, Germany and others that had supported ordinary Zambians financially and morally through provision of education, health, budget support and other social services.

“For the President of this Republic to stand up and say, ‘they can pack up their bags and go’ only shows lack of understanding of the capacity of his government and his country to stand on its own,” Nawakwi said. “It’s a pity that during 1980s, this is the same person who was still in UNIP, the then government of UNIP through KK said, ‘the donors can pack their bags and go, we shall grow from our own resources’, yet reducing us to beggars.”

Nawakwi said the monies being used for development projects now were savings after Western donors cancelled Zambia’s US$7 billion debt.

She said it was sad that President Banda, who heads a country that has 95 per cent of its people unemployed, could stand up and denounce the donors.

“Of course they can pack their bags and go because some of us go to UTH and sleep on the floor but ministers go abroad even when they sneeze, they become medical tourists. Of course, does it matter if the donors go? No! We the politicians will not be affected; we will find our way to South Africa, India for treatment. The people who are most affected are the children in the villages, mothers with nothing,” Nawakwi said.

“How many clinics has this government built? Most of the clinics were built by the Irish Aid, UK, JICA and other donors.”
She said the problems at UTH were just a tip of the iceberg of the problems to come if the donors withheld their aid.

“You have already seen what is happening at UTH where people are sleeping on the floor. What is happening at the UTH is just a tip of the iceberg; there is no medicine, blankets. Just go to Block E in UTH, people are being told to bring their own blankets. A person has just died and they take that bed to another department and give it to another patient,” Nawakwi said.

“What is wrong that my President can’t go to UTH or Maina Soko and do his medical check up? Why doesn’t the President show an example that the facilities in this country are safe? If he can go to Kasaba Bay for holiday why can’t he go to UTH for medical treatment? All of us don’t like our President going to Cape Town for medical check up.”

Nawakwi said the development, which President Banda and his government often talked about, must translate into quality life of people.

Recently, President Banda asked the donors to pack their bags and leave if they were unhappy with the government instead of “poking their noses” in the country’s business.

President Banda made the remarks following what he claimed “donors’ concerns” over the government’s failure to appeal against High Court judge Evans Hamaundu’s decision to dismiss the state’s application to register the London High Court judgment that found former president Frederick Chiluba and others guilty of having defrauded the Zambian government.

Labels: DONORS, EDITH NAWAKWI, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 7:04 AM