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Rupiah must be voted out - Sinkala

Rupiah must be voted out - Sinkala
By Chibaula Silwamba
Tue 31 May 2011, 07:10 CAT

PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda is an untrustworthy old man who has failed to run public affairs and must be voted out of power this year, says an MMD founder member, Wendy Sinkala. And Sinkala said PF leader Michael Sata will definitely form government this year and perform to people’s expectations.

In an interview, Sinkala, Zambia’s former High Commissioner to Kenya and Ambassador to Ethiopia who was among the lead campaigners for then acting President Banda in the 2008 presidential by-elections, said she was let down that the incumbent had failed to fulfill his promises to fight corruption.

She said President Banda had also failed to also fulfill his promise of only serving up to the end of the remainder of his predecessor Levy Mwanawasa’s tenure among other campaign messages.

Sinkala said President Banda’s age, now 74-years-old, had made her trust him during the 2008 campaigns that he would stick to his promises but she was disappointed that the “old man” had not kept his word and had failed to run national affairs.

“Yes! I have personally been let down by the way government has run through the current President.

I campaigned for him in 2008, I was the chairperson of the mobilisation committee of the parallel structures in Lusaka and I went round Lusaka telling the people about what we were going to do for this nation of which very little has been done, if any,” said Sinkala, a one-time member of parliament for Bwacha constituency in Kabwe, Central Province.

“At his age, I thought age comes with wisdom and he was trustworthy. But definitely, I would not trust him now. He is not trustworthy.”

She said with the increasing discontent of Zambians over President Banda’s inefficiencies, she was certain that there would be change of government this year.

“I want to call upon every well meaning Zambian not to allow ourselves to be taken for granted,” she said. “Yes, I definitely do see Michael Sata forming government this time around.

The beauty about Michael Sata forming government this time around is that he has, like some of us, been in government long enough to know how the government systems are supposed to be run.”

She said Sata was action oriented, making him the right person to take over the presidency.

“All he does need is a group of people that mean well, who have the interest of Zambians at heart to support him and I can assure you he is going to deliver. He is a doer,” Sinkala said.

“Whether we like it or not, he is a man of action. As Zambians, we have a choice: do we want somebody who will improve our lives or we want gentlemen who will come and create wealth for themselves at the expense of the majority of Zambians?”

She said the invasion of the MMD by UNIP stalwarts was like riding a bicycle backwards.

“We have back-peddled 50 years. The same clique that we fought and removed in 1991 has come back. Sometimes it is our own naivety thinking that the people we have welcomed mean well but alas we have buried ourselves,” she said.

Sinkala urged President Banda to do an introspection following the mass exodus of MMD founder members from the ruling party due to his bad leadership.

“The MMD has totally lost the ideals upon which it was founded and any well meaning Zambian, especially the MMD members would attest to this,” Sinkala said.

“We fought dictatorial tendencies because we wanted freedom of speech, freedom of association, democracy etc. Not an environment of intimidation, violence and threats. That is what we fought against. But to see that this is what is exactly happening now gives a very sad feeling to some of us.”

She said she had been a loyal member of the MMD since 1991, when she was part of the people that organised the party’s first national rally in Kabwe, until now when President Banda messed up the ruling party.

“I believe that moving on is the best option for me because I cannot continue being associated to a sham of a democracy.

Since the current President came to power there are a lot of things that I have not agreed with. The fact that some of us don’t talk in the press does not mean that we cannot talk. No! Expression of opinion and wisdom is not the monopoly of the MMD,” Sinkala said. “When we don’t talk it doesn’t mean that we consent.”

Sinkala castigated Winnie Zaloumis, one of the campaigners for President Banda in 2008, for denouncing her switching of camps to back Sata’s candidacy this year.

She expressed displeasure at the tendency by ‘job seekers’ that were abusing ZNBC by endorsing President Banda’s candidacy through castigating former diplomats and ministers supporting Sata.

She said it was public knowledge that President Banda was not listening to Zambians and made unilateral decisions on national issues.

“Zambians have spoken against the removal of abuse of office clause. Look at what has happened now. It’s scandal after scandal. When people said they didn’t want Zamtel to be sold, he didn’t listen and Zamtel has been sold for nothing.

We have had a lot of problems affecting the miners on the Copperbelt Province, which have never been attended to,” Sinkala said. “We have issues where Chinese have shot people but there has been no expected intervention from this government. We have had shootings in Mongu and Mazabuka.”

She said Zambians had been cheated out of their over K200 billion through a failed constitution making process.

“What has government been doing for the past three years as compared to what they want to do now? They seem to be doing everything everywhere. Where has the money suddenly come from? Why haven’t these things been happening all along?” Sinkala asked.

She called for issue-based campaigns and not mudslinging.
“In this time and era, it will be very sad if we allowed politics of character assassination and stone-throwing. I think we should be above board and engage in clean politics,” said Sinkala.

Labels: MMD, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 6:01 PM