Rupiah must keep quiet, show remorse - Mulongoti

Rupiah must keep quiet, show remorse - Mulongoti
By Kombe Chimpinde and Moses Kuwema
Sun 30 Oct. 2011, 13:50 CAT

MIKE Mulongoti says Rupiah Banda must keep quiet and show remorse for his wrongdoing while he served as Republican president. And Transparency International Zambia says former president Banda should be prepared to answer any allegations levelled against him in order to clear his name.

Commenting on Banda's statement that he was not worried about calls to have his immunity lifted by parliament, Mulongoti said one month was too short a time for Banda to quickly forget the rampant abuse of office and resources perpetrated by him and his government.

"He should keep quiet. I think it is in the interest of the public for him to keep quiet. It is too early. The man just lost an election and the list of wrong things that he did is there. We talked about them during the campaigns. There is nothing new, how can he forget so quickly?" Mulongoti wondered.

"We went to town talking about the mistakes he was making and a month later he thinks Zambians have forgotten. Why does he think Zambians voted him out? Zambians voted him out because of the wrong things he did and this is why he is causing problems to people in his party."

Mulongoti said Banda should not downplay calls for his immunity to be lifted because the pain he caused Zambians was too much.

"Let me remind him that the pain Zambians went through caused his removal. Let Rupiah give Zambians a break. Zambians will make the decision on whether Rupiah Banda's immunity should be lifted or not," Mulongoti said, adding that this was not up to him or the current President.

Mulongoti said downplaying the matter would only incite Zambians who were trying to restore honour and integrity to the office of the President.

"They say ‘the guilty are afraid', so the former president must wait for the law to take its course, as this is not a punishment itself, so that Zambians may establish whether he is innocent or guilty as he is claiming," said Mulongoti.

And TIZ president Rueben Lifuka said the organisation believed that Banda in discharging his functions was fully aware of the consequences of any illegal actions on his part.

"Transparency International Zambia wishes to state that the facility of removal of immunity of a president should be respected. It is in our Constitution for a purpose, namely to allow a former president to be investigated and if necessary prosecuted for criminal offences committed in office," he said.

Lifuka said Banda should therefore understand that if a decision was made by the government, with the consent of Parliament, it would be on the basis that a prima facie case(s) established against him.

He said Banda had no cause to fear the prospect of his immunity being lifted if he did not do anything which warranted such an action.

"We however, want to caution the PF government to conduct their investigations, if any, against Mr. Banda in a professional manner and one that is not driven by malice or retribution," said Lifuka.

Speaking to journalists shortly after he signed the book of condolences for the late Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Saultan bin Abdulaziz, former president Banda expressed anger at what he thought was a negative pattern being established in Zambia of stripping former heads of state of their immunity.

"Is that part of the Constitution that when the President loses an election you must take away his immunity? Is that part of the Constitution? I am not worried about my immunity or about anything," said Banda.