Maravi

RUPIAH will be bruised, says Lameck Mangani

RUPIAH will be bruised, says Lameck Mangani
By Chibaula Silwamba
Tue 25 Oct. 2011, 15:20 CAT

RUPIAH Banda will be bruised, says Lameck Mangani. And Mangani has urged former president Banda to apologise to Zambians for the mistakes he made instead of exhibiting petty jealousy and frustrating his successor, President Michael Sata.

Commenting on Banda's alleged manoeuvres to ‘surrender' the former ruling MMD to UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema, Mangani warned that Banda risked being bruised politically if he continued to use his agent, Hichilema, to defend him before he answers for the wrongs he committed while in State House.

"Former president Banda, under the circumstances, the first step he could have done was to simply step down as a party president and move away from party politics. He took MMD to an election; MMD was defeated and the normal thing he can do in the most immediate arrangement is for him to step down," said Mangani.

"When he steps down as president of MMD, then he will be ready to answer few questions and when time comes, he is a human being, tell Zambians that ‘sorry I made mistakes on this and that'. It will be up to the Zambians to decide that ‘let us forget this and forgive the old man or not, or let this old man go to court or not'."

He said the political arena was not ideal for Banda.

"Immediately he goes into the political arena the way he is moving using other agents like Hichilema, he may be bruised very badly. That is the danger that I see. Former president Banda risks being bruised politically if he uses agents like Hichilema to start defending him on issues Zambians feel were wrong.

It will not be good for him," said Mangani, a one-time home affairs minister in the Banda Cabinet. "My personal advice is that let him step aside. After all, he has done his part. He took over from late president Levy Mwanawasa and Zambians made him President thereafter."

He said one important thing that Banda did, for which Zambians would not forget him, was that he handed over power peacefully.

"In handing over power peacefully, he avoided a problem that happened in Ivory Coast, and Zambians are aware of that. If he humbles himself by telling MMD that ‘please choose another person, I am in my retirement, anything you want me to explain, I am ready to explain'. Humility is very critical," Mangani said.

"You will see that if he does that, it will be Zambians that will be telling Sata that, ‘please leave the old man alone'. But if he wants to be aggressive for nothing, he will have unnecessary problems in old age and it will not be good for the family as well."

Banda is 74 years old.

He said Banda must learn from developed countries where former presidents do not antagonise their successors unnecessarily.

"When a president has lost the election, he goes quiet; they don't go into a fight with a person that has taken over from them. Petty jealousy is unnecessary. Sata did not put himself as President; it is the Zambians that put him there," Mangani said.

"The way things are moving and which I know even my colleagues in MMD are aware of is that it is impossible to reverse the process; Sata is President for the next five years. The best thing to do is to cooperate with him so that whatever decisions he makes will be for the interest of all Zambians, including Banda himself."

He said President Sata's anti-corruption crusade or abuse of national resources fight should not be personalised as if it was a personal fight between President Sata and Banda.

"Immediately we reduce it to that level like there is a personal fight between the two, then we are losing focus. What we should do is that every leader that assumes the Presidency must know that when you leave office, people will definitely question you why you made certain decisions," Mangani said.

"Even Mr Sata when he leaves office, he must be ready to explain to the Zambians on some of the decisions he will make. That is normal. If Mr Banda is clean and people are asking him, ‘Can you explain on some of the decisions you made?' you cannot say that Sata is personalising that. He just wants an explanation. If those matters are bordering on security that the

ACC or DEC may be required, you can't stop him because he is now President and he must protect the interests of all Zambians, including our assets."

He said Zambians wanted answers on the sale of Zamtel.

Mangani said Zambians questioned the sale of Zamtel to Libya's LAP Green Network.

"Now Sata comes to the scene and says, ‘Please, Minister of Justice, can you make sure that you probe this and let Zambians be satisfied with what happened'. That cannot be seen as personal victimisation of Mr Banda. Zamtel was a national asset," Mangani said. "Just like the issue of procurement of fuel, it affects everybody. If the process is not cleaned up and if there was corruption in the procurement, it affects every Zambian. As president, you must look at which areas Zambians are hard hit on, which affect their lives."

He said Hichilema was supposed to belong to the young generation of politicians that offer constructive criticism.

He, however, observed that Hichilema was falling into the trap of politics of confrontation, insults and baseless arguments.

Mangani said Hichilema was a letdown to the young generation.

"The young generation must create a new level playing field where issues should be at the centre of our political debate," said Mangani.

Labels: LAMECK MANGANI, MICHAEL SATA, MMD, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 11:15 PM