Maravi

It isn’t wrong to be Malawian, says Rupiah

It isn’t wrong to be Malawian, says Rupiah
By Moses Kuwema
Mon 08 Aug. 2011, 12:00 CAT

THERE is nothing wrong about being a Malawian or a Zimbabwean these are African countries, says President Rupiah Banda. Speaking when he visited the MMD campaign centre in Lusaka yesterday, President Banda said he saw nothing wrong about being called a Zimbabwean.

“We are actually all Africans, I don't see anything wrong about being called a Zimbabwean, if I was a Zimbabwean I would have proudly said so, like everybody knows that I was born in Zimbabwe, and publicly I went to Zimbabwe myself, I was invited by President Mugabe after that I asked him if he could permit me to go and see the little hut where I was born because I’m never ashamed of my history where I was born, I was born in a little hut where my parents had immigrated from Fort Jameson. First my father went there to work as a bricklayer and then he went back to marry Ama Zulu Sara my mother,” President Banda said.

He said it was a shame that his parents were being talked about so badly, adding that if they were alive, they would have been hurt to hear that they were not indigenous to Zambia.

He said he was not worried about the Patriotic Front's legal action against him over the origins of his parents but that he was more worried about Micheal Sata whom he said claimed to be a democratic leader.

“What worries me about Mr Sata and my colleagues from PF is that they say they are democratic and want to ran this country in a democratic way of which the 13 million Zambians have sworn to the constitution that we shall preserve the democratic rights and tenets of this country. We want to have a democratic country not dictatorial and these are the same people who were asking ‘when are you going to announce the elections’, I announce the elections they are now looking for excuses of how to knock me out. I thought when you were asking for the election date you must have known that you were going to stand against me,” he said.

President Banda wondered whom Sata wanted to beat since he wanted to be president of Zambia.

“Who does he want to beat, those he has been beating in the past? Me I want to beat the one who is closest to me, himself, as in we are both strong, that is the kind of boxer that I want go into the ring with, and his colleagues even go to go court and ridicule themselves to say we don't want this one, we want to go to the elections to win, we are very strong but we don't want this one he might stop us, because that is what they are saying. They are admitting that they are not ready for me because if they were ready, let’s go. It is on the September 20, let’s go to the elections,” President Banda said.

“Mr Sata has been around with me for a long time, he has eaten in my home many times, I wish I would say the same about his home, he has been to my farm and eaten the food cooked by my mother whom he is now allocating another country. He has never questioned me, not even privately, not even to the press. Now he stands up and says my mother came from Malawi, at first he said she came from Zimbabwe, lomba echokela kuni? You can't come from more than one place,” he said.

President Banda said he was a Zambian because he had done more things for the people of Zambia and for Zambia than Sata had adding that everybody knew him and that that was the most unfortunate part about the PF's action.

“In any case what kind of country do we want to build where we have to dig people all the time? They did it to Dr Kaunda, they did it to Chiluba, they did it to Mwanawasa and they want to do it to me, what will happen to this country when we the old people are dead? What will happen to you, every time you want to do something ati no no uyu ni waku Tanzania, Congo, we all came from everywhere this is nonsense and we have people of other colours as well,” he said.

President Banda said he agreed with what veteran politician Simon Zukas said about the parentage clause, that it was a bad.

“I agree with Mr Zukas 100 per cent, you cannot say Mr Zukas is not Zambian because Zukas fought for this country at the time when Mr Sata was afraid to fight he went to join the police in order for the British to do him favours not to arrest him, Zukas was already fighting for this country. We had people who came from India, Dipak Patel they fought for this country, they fought for the democracy in this country. What about our coloured children, all these children who are mixed up, their mothers have gone out and married somebody and ended up being Zambians. Nanga Given Lubinda he is as much Zambian as me and perhaps more Zambian than Mr Sata, Guy Scott is as much Zambian, what is he Sata going to do about all this? He is his vice-president what is he going to do if he coughs and dies, it will be Scott who will take over from him until they elect someone,” he said.

President Banda assured the gathering that he was Zambian and that they should not worry about him.

“On Wednesday I am going to file my things nominations and he is going to see wemu tema mwala he’s been hit by a stone, he will see the people of Zambia coming to witness the same because it is very important that am sworn in. They are wasting their time they are just irritating us Zambians, us Zambians who want to build a Zambia where everybody can come in and stay,” said President Banda.

Labels: CONSTITUTION, MALAWI, PRESIDENCY, RUPIAH BANDA, SIMON ZUKAS

posted by MrK @ 7:53 PM