Maravi

Rupiah’s tyranny will consume him, warns Miha

Rupiah’s tyranny will consume him, warns Miha
By Misheck Wangwe
Sat 26 Feb. 2011, 04:01 CAT

PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda's growing tyrannical tendencies will consume him in the end, says Father Miha Drevensek. Speaking in an interview yesterday, Fr Miha, who is Mission Press director, said President Banda's style of leadership within the MMD and the country did not match with what was expected of a democratic leader.

Fr Miha said the perception of many Zambians was that critical institutions of governance, such as the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), the public media and the judiciary, were being controlled by State House.

“The political terrain in the country is not inspiring because it is no longer democratic.

"President Banda has given himself so much power. He doesn't care about what the people want, whether within his party or in the country at large,” he said.

“Even ECZ cannot guarantee free and fair elections in its current state because it has been weakened by his government. The public media is no longer public. It’s busy disseminating hateful messages against the opposition and people with divergent views who are not given a chance to defend themselves. Surely this is dangerous to democracy and must be corrected.”

Fr Miha said sincere senior members of the MMD must appeal to their conscience not to allow President Banda to destroy the ideals of democracy on which the MMD was founded because it was detrimental to the growth of meaningful democracy in the country.

He said the sacking of Mike Mulongoti as works and supply minister spoke volumes about the undemocratic and dictatorial tendencies that had been adopted by the president and his supporters.

“What we are seeing is that bootlickers of the president are busy threatening the lives of people who criticise his style of governance. But one thing for sure is that people will not stay quiet in a society full of injustice. People will talk and eventually good will defeat evil. It happened when Jesus was persecuted, crucified and killed. The hope we have is that our Jesus conquered evil and it will happen in this land one day,” said Fr Miha.

Labels: GOVERNANCE, MIHA DREVENSEK, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 12:05 PM