Maravi

Chongwe backs Sata’s meeting with donors

Chongwe backs Sata’s meeting with donors
By George Chellah
Thu 14 Oct. 2010, 04:00 CAT

Lusaka lawyer Dr Rodger Chongwe yesterday observed that PF president Michael Sata is not quarantined from international contact. And Dr Chongwe asked whether it was not understandable for diplomats to seek to meet opposition leaders since President Rupiah Banda is rarely present at the seat of power in Lusaka.

Commenting on Parliamentary Chief Whip Vernon Mwaanga's warning that some diplomatic missions should not be surprised if diplomatic sanctions were imposed on them for meeting Sata without government's knowledge, Dr Chongwe stated that Sata was clearly the leader of a very large political movement in Zambia today.

"I would like to draw the attention of brother Mwaanga to one of the articles he told us he wrote himself that was published in The Post in his own column.

In this article, he expounded on the state of Myanmar formerly called Burma, in the process touching on Nobel Laureate and elected leader of the Burmese people, Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been locked up for many years by the generals running that country,” Dr Chongwe said.

“She is not allowed to receive members of the public or the diplomatic community without permission of the generals. She lives under a military dictatorship in which Zambia is very different from Myanmar.

"Agreed, Mr Michael Sata who is our mutual colleague from the days of campaigning for multi party democracy in 1991 is neither as saintly or beautiful as Ms Aung San Suu Kyi. Mr Sata is, however, clearly the leader of a very large political movement in Zambia today. Today it looks much larger than the MMD and in our system, Sata and his colleagues are not quarantined from international contact."

Dr Chongwe said that according to Mwaanga, the normal diplomatic channel was for diplomats to make their requests and contacts with various groups through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"It would appear Mr Mwaanga did not disclose the nature of the sanctions that his administration has in mind against the so-called wayward diplomats. The warning, however, comes soon after the President told the diplomats to pack their bags and leave Zambia,” Dr Chongwe said.

“At the time of the President's remarks, some of the diplomats had questioned why the government did not seek return of the money taken by former President Chiluba, now a confidante of the President whom the English Court found had misappropriated over USD 46,000,000 belonging to the Zambian State.

"On the face of the statement by Mr Mwaanga, one would have no qualms in accepting it if it came from the mouth of a politician who practices what he preaches. But this is not the position with Mr Mwaanga.

Why? Mr Mwaanga was the party member in charge of International Affairs in the early days of the MMD in 1991. He was also a former Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Kaunda administration, but these credentials notwithstanding at the time he had no qualms in arranging meetings for us as MMD leaders to meet foreign diplomats accredited to Zambia.

"Neither did we wait for him to arrange these meetings. One has in mind meetings that took place with the former ambassadors from the United States, Canada, France, Germany and etc.

There was no whiff from Mr Mwaanga as to the diplomatic impropriety of such meetings. I was myself leader of the Opposition Alliance from 1996 (until shortly after I was shot at in 1997) comprising 13 opposition political parties in Zambia. My colleagues and I met foreign diplomats accredited to our country without any prior permission from the Minister of Foreign Affairs."

Dr Chongwe said when he returned from Australia in 2003, he met foreign diplomats in Zambia without prior permission from the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

"I am sure that there are many more former political leaders who were and have been in a position to meet foreign diplomats without the permission of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. What I am driving at is this that in this country a political leader does not need, taking into account past practice, to get the permission of our Foreign Ministry to meet a diplomat either at his home or in a hotel over a meal or a drink or elsewhere," Chongwe said.

"Mr Mwaanga, as far as I am aware, is not himself the current Minister of Foreign Affairs and I am also aware that there are other Zambians in the Foreign Ministry whose responsibility is to deal with issues on which Mr Mwaanga has given himself the authority to expound."

However, Dr Chongwe stated that Mwaanga's behaviour could be explained.

"His behaviour gives credence to what must already be obvious to most thinking people in Zambia; this is that the Zambian government's administration is dysfunctional. Institutions of the state are dysfunctional. The executive is dysfunctional; neither does the institution of parliament nor the judiciary function properly," Chongwe said.

"This may explain the desperation by representatives of the international community in seeking out the opposition. The opposition, according to our own Constitution, is part of the system of government. In any case, if diplomats are unable to meet the President because the incumbent is rarely present at the seat of power in Lusaka; is it not understandable that they should seek to meet the opposition leaders instead?" Dr Chongwe said that Zambia had a multi party system of governance.

"It is very imperfect and has been much undermined in its democratic practice and we all know it. Yet it was something we sought and campaigned for and in which Mr Mwaanga was much involved but ultimately the multi party system was achieved by the overwhelming will of the people of Zambia. Like our lives and our votes, it does not belong to any one individual or group to give and take at will," said Dr Chongwe.

Labels: DONORS, MICHAEL SATA, ROGER CHONGWE, VERNON MWAANGA

posted by MrK @ 3:00 PM