Maravi

Mpombo accuses Rupiah of wallowing in self-deception

Mpombo accuses Rupiah of wallowing in self-deception
By Patson Chilemba
Wed 26 Jan. 2011, 04:01 CAT

RUPIAH Banda is wallowing in self-deception by trying to bribe Lusaka electorate to vote for him, says George Mpombo.

And PF secretary general Wynter Kabimba said President Banda's desperation to retain power had now driven him to start blackmailing citizens, through empty promises of improving infrastructure in areas which have a higher concentration of voters like Mandevu compound in Lusaka.

Commenting on President Banda's recent pronouncement that Lusaka Province would play a crucial role in this year's elections, and therefore the government would embark on uplifting all the roads in Mandevu which had the highest number of registered voters, Mpombo, an MMD Kafulafuta parliamentarian, said the people of Lusaka could not be bought by President Banda's empty political gimmickry.

He said the people should ask President Banda where his government had been all this while to only embark on development a few months before elections.

Mpombo said the move by President Banda's government was an exercise in futility.

"People are concerned about lack of economic development, which is not translating into job creation. People are concerned about high levels of corruption, the suspicious removal of abuse of office by Mr Banda, political interference in major issues in the country," Mpombo said.

"People are concerned about critical issues like the lopsided justice system, failure to reintroduce windfall tax on the huge profits the mines are making. What he is talking about are petty issues which are irrelevant to the future of the country. So he is just wallowing in self-deception."

Mpombo reminded President Banda that unlike rural dwellers, the people of Lusaka were too enlightened to be swayed by desperate last minute developments.

And Kabimba said President Banda’s pronouncement was tantamount to high-level electoral corruption and bribery.

He said President Banda’s remarks showed that all development projects the government was undertaking were not meant to improve the welfare of the people, but to entice them to vote for the MMD.

"A statement like that must come to the people of Zambia with a sense of shock that a President is actually saying ‘I am going to bribe you so you can vote for me’. To blackmail people to say ‘you won't see development unless I think you are important to me as a voter to retain me into power’," Kabimba said.

"It is an irresponsible statement at this stage. Even if you are desperate to remain in office, you can't outrightly blackmail citizens like that as a President."

Kabimba said it did not matter what President Banda would do in places like Mandevu and Matero because the people living in those areas had been suffering for long and knew that PF would redeem them from that misery.

He said PF had reliable information from the intelligence sources that President Banda was dead scared of losing elections.

"So he is just posturing. His public statement is not what he believes in, in his heart of hearts," said Kabimba.

And on the just-ended MMD provincial conferences, Mpombo said the conferences were stage-managed because President Banda had organised a system to ensure that his preferred candidates won as provincial chairpersons.

He said this was a blemish on the democratic record of the MMD.

"It's a sad day for Zambia that we have a leadership that is already embroiled in democratic disorder which is being championed by Mr Banda. As a result, the party is headed for the biggest shellacking when it comes to general elections," Mpombo said.

"Here is a man who declares that refugees can stay in Zambia for as long as they wish, without even consulting Cabinet. He has no respect for institutions of governance. That is why power should not be given to him because he will run down this country."

Mpombo said outgoing Southern Province MMD chairperson Charles Muzyamba had paid a price for having lobbied that President Banda should go unchallenged at the MMD convention.

"He has been dumped on a political garbage heap," he said.

Mpombo said the conferences had revealed President Banda's tyrannical and manipulative nature. He said almost all the provincial chairmen who were used to come up with the “nonsense” of cancelling the MMD conventions that President Banda could be anointed sole presidential candidate had retained their positions.

Mpombo said the conferences had been manipulated and doctored to drive President Banda's bid to have an easy ride at the MMD convention.

Labels: 2011 ELECTIONS, GEORGE MPOMBO, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 3:12 PM