Maravi

Banda wonders why The Post hates him

Banda wonders why The Post hates him
By Kabanda Chulu
Mon 18 Apr. 2011, 04:01 CAT

PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda has likened his differences with Post editor Fred M’membe to that of a fight of two giant elephants which he (President Banda) alleged has resulted in reporters’ stories being twisted in order to humiliate his presidency.

And President Banda has said the MMD government would re-introduce the constitution bill in Parliament within six months if it emerges victorious in the 2011 general elections.

Meanwhile, President Banda has directed that all outstanding balances owed by sitting tenants intending to buy houses from councils, ZCCM and parastatal organisations be written off with immediate effect.

Answering questions from journalists after his press conference in Kitwe on Saturday, President Banda said he had a lot of sympathy for press men and that was why he had never quarreled with any journalist.

“For example, Kabanda is from The Post and I know they will say something from what I have said but I know it is not from him because he will report what I have said but they will put a twist to it to make him look like he is a bad man just trying to implicate the President and so on…like yesterday I visited our diplomats and ambassadors from around the world who are in the country and some of them on their own volition decided to give us some money, a small cheque, and how can we refuse and I thank everybody for doing something good but today what do I see in the paper?

That I was soliciting funds; which is a little bit unfair to me, but I know you young people and how patriotic you are about Zambia and how you like this country and you will not hurt it deliberately,” President Banda said.

“But I also know there at your (Post) headquarters I have a lot of enemies. I don’t know what I did to them, I don’t know what I did to M’membe, I don’t know what I did to his number two, number three, everyday if he doesn’t twist something… like all of you have heard the question and my answers but tomorrow you will see something else then you will say ‘ni wamene Kabanda uyu ana lemba’ (it is this same Kabanda who wrote) but me I believe sincerely the young people doing this are professionals reporting what I have said but when you want to do something hoping that it will hurt me, unfortunately, from what we are seeing, it is not hurting me but it is developing sympathy for me …wherever we go I travel with all journalists including The Post… in rural areas my first question to my colleagues is: are journalist okay and have they found rooms? are they feeding well? because it is good for me, good for MMD and for the country when journalists report and if you don’t report what I have said then people out there will not know what I have said. So you deserve special congratulations for these and sorry for being caught up in the middle of fights of two elephants and you get hurt sometimes…but I will not hate you.”

And on the failed constitution bill in Parliament, President Banda said government would follow the law on matters relating to the constitutional process.

“The way forward for the NCC process is that when a bill does not go through then we have to wait for six months to be brought again, we are sorry that it did not go through because it had a lot of revolutionary changes such as having 30 additional women in Parliament whichever women are elected, the disabled, youths but that is democracy if people refused and decided but if it is MMD who will be re-elected in the next six months, we shall bring it back and hopefully by then we would have mustered enough MPs in order to pass the Bill,” President Banda said.

On compensation for victims resulting from careless shootings by the police, President Banda said he does not know how the matter was being handled.

“I don’t interfere with running of specialised institutions but what I know is that the policemen who did it have been arrested and I don’t know how the families are doing of those who were injured or killed …once again let me appeal to Zambians; let’s be proud of our country and let us do everything to ensure that something bad does not happen rather than rejoice when something like this happens and hoping that it will hurt the MMD but it is not MMD but all of us since this is our country and we are on the move and we need to work together,” he said.

Earlier during the official commissioning of a mini-hospital in Ndeke Village and launching of mobile hospital units on the Copperbelt, President Banda said he has become ‘deaf’ in order to stop listening to insults uttered by opposition parties that want to distract him off the ball (elections).

“They will not manage and if I were to listen to these distractions I would not have done these achievements and the money we are earning as revenue from copper is being used to build hospitals and schools and roads rehabilitation which I will soon launch here in the Copperbelt even if opposition parties say I am campaigning but development should not suffer and my government will continue working,” he said.

President Banda said the MMD home ownership policy was not meant to punish people through exorbitant pricing of houses.

“It is meant to empower people and not shackle them as they move towards prosperity and with immediate effect all outstanding balances owed by sitting tenants intending to buy houses should be written off and I direct the Commissioner of Lands to expedite the issuance of title deeds because my government wants to provide all Zambians with security and stability they should have by right,” said President Banda.

Labels: RUPIAH BANDA, THE POST

posted by MrK @ 7:19 PM