Maravi

Hansungule urges Rupiah to come out clean over arms deal

Hansungule urges Rupiah to come out clean over arms deal
By Bright Mukwasa
Thu 05 May 2011, 04:01 CAT

PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda should respond to specific allegations raised if he claims he does not know anything about the US$100 million arms deal revealed by George Mpombo, says Professor Michelo Hansungule.

Prof Hansungule said in an interview that President Banda should promote constitutionalism as enshrined by coming out clean over the scandal.

“It is a gross violation of the Constitution (Article 44 (1) and, therefore, offensive to the principles of dignity and leadership for the Head of State to even have his name mentioned in scandal.

President Banda has a duty to uphold the Constitution. If, as he claims he does not know anything about George Mpombo’s allegations, why should he not respond to the specific allegations the latter has raised?” Prof Hansungule asked.

He said it could be better for the President to submit the scandal to an independent inquiry which would establish the facts and shame the alleger.

“The public resources the President is accused of trying to influence to the benefit of his son and, therefore, to him belong to the poor people who are also the majority voters in the country. Dignity and leadership requires high level of moral authority which is not consistent with scandals,” he said.

Prof Hansungule said it was unfortunate that investigative wings were unable to take on President Banda as they existed on his mercy.

“One thing we learnt from former president Chiluba and now President Banda is that it is not possible for the ACC to act against the president because it owes its existence to him.

Despite this, however, President Banda should show leadership as defined in the Constitution and subject the scandal to an independent inquiry,” said Prof Hansungule.

He said being at the centre of the scandal, President Banda had a duty to appoint an independent body of experts of repute to probe the scandal.

Prof Hansungule said President Banda could not just brush aside such a serious allegation by throwing the ball back to former Defence Minister George Mpombo.

“A serious allegation such as this which implicates the head of state and his family in serious violation of the Constitution deserves nothing short of a full independent inquiry.

No less important is that the revelation was made by former Minister of Defence, at the time of the scandal, President Banda’s most senior Cabinet minister responsible for the defence and security docket,” he said.

Prof Hansungule said it was incorrect to accuse someone who quit Cabinet on his own conscience of ‘sour grapes’ unless one who had been dismissed.

“More than that, George Mpombo made specific allegations citing names of senior government officials that are privy to this scandal. These are people who are alive and who, therefore, can easily be approached to shed light on the allegations,” said Prof Hansungule.

He also said the ‘James-gate’ scandal showed the low-level of moral decay the country had descended to under the watch of presidents Frederick Chiluba and Rupiah Banda.

“Under presidents Chiluba and Banda, the levels of corruption in Zambia have reached the levels of Zaire’s president Joseph Mobutu Sese Seko,” said Prof Hansungule.

“Constitutionalism dictates that the President particularly where he and his family are named in scandals should respond with the same specific rebuttals the allegations were made otherwise the public would be forgiven if they believed them.”

Labels: ARMS, CORRUPTION, MICHELO HANSUNGULE, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 2:08 PM