Sata has chance to do better than Rupiah - Hansungule

Sata has chance to do better than Rupiah - Hansungule
By Ernest Chanda
Sat 01 Oct. 2011, 11:20 CAT

PROFESSOR Michelo Hansungule says immediate past president Rupiah Banda lost the election because he did not listen to the people. And Prof Hansungule said President Michael Sata has a chance to do better than his predecessor.

Reflecting on Banda's loss in the just-ended presidential election to President Sata, the Pretoria-based law professor said the former head of state chose to be arrogant to everyone.

"One of the biggest lessons from Rupiah Banda's short-lived presidency is the importance, especially to political leaders, of listening to citizens. It is ironical that the outgoing president said during his concession statement that ‘Zambian people had spoken'. Why could he not say this to himself a long time ago? Had he listened to citizens, president Banda would have no problem reclaiming the presidency for the second term," Prof Hansungule said.

"With his self-inflicted loss, president Banda has broken a record in the SADC as the elected head of state to have been in office the shortest period. President Mandela served a full term before he voluntarily exited from office and in any case left his party the African National Congress firmly in office. Political arrogance is what cost President Banda his chance to have a full term."

Prof Hansungule said there were many wrong things Banda did which offended the voters. He said the people advised him on many wrong decisions he made but he would not listen.

"President Banda would not listen when people told him they did not like his constitution and the way he went about dictating how it should be written; they wanted the London judgment against (late Frederick Chiluba) to be registered and enforced in Zambia.

They wanted an appeal against Chiluba's acquittal from corruption. They did not like his comments alongside the magistrate Jones Chinyama who acquitted Chiluba because they suggested the magistrate's hand was twisted into doing something else on the case than the law dictated," he said.

"They told him they did not like the way his administration was going about abusing the judiciary. They did not like the president's decision to dissolve the Task Force on Corruption.

They told him they did not like his decision to stop tampering with a good law on corruption by public officers. They did not like the way he handled the Dora Siliya-led sale of ZAMTEL and that she suffered no sanction even when she clearly treated the Attorney General's legal advice with contempt."

Prof Hansungule said even when people told Banda to reintroduce the windfall tax on the mines, he did not listen.

He said people wanted Banda to be tough on investors who treated their workers miserably, but he ignored them.

"They did not like the way he handled the take-over of Finance Bank and its hasty sale to the South African Bank a few days before the elections. They told him to avoid abusing public resources for his political gain," Prof Hansungule said.

"They told him he should not abuse the public media to promote only his agenda and completely shut out opponents. They told him to cage his vice-president and minister of justice George Kunda and to be careful with the ‘advice' he gave on the media and governance in general.

People told him to stop rearing ‘dogs' to set out against perceived political opponents through vitreous attacks in the public media. They told him he was wrong paying from public resources for his opinion polls (in fact Rupiah Banda's opinions) which always returned a ‘win' only for him because besides being abuse of public resources, this offended the public trust."

He said even when people told Banda to stop using his wife in MMD errands paid for by the taxpayer, he remained arrogant. Prof Hansungule said Banda had also abused traditional leaders to the extent that it offended their subjects.

"They told him not to open fire on unarmed youths in Mongu but to dialogue with them on their demands and not to charge their leaders with treason. They even warned him that he cheated on affidavit that both his parents were Zambian by birth and descent," Prof Hansungule said.

"They told him everything a good president would want to hear to improve on his governance but he would have none of it. They told him to enact into the constitution the 50+1 result for the winner and if he had, we would be going for the next round of election for the presidency. But of course he chose to listen to Kunda. The result is that except probably himself and his cronies, everyone knew that in a free and fair contest, he would lose this or any election."

And Prof Hansugnule said people expected a lot from President Sata because they knew him as an action-oriented person.

"The good thing about President Sata is that we all know him. No Zambian would say ‘Michael who?' Due to his accomplishments, particularly his well-known tag as a hands-on man; his name is household in all Zambia. All he must do, however, is to develop capacity to listen to citizens," said Prof Hansungule.

"I had read about a powerful leader who was so popular and likable across the political spectrum not because he went round giving sweets to his people but because of his ‘power to listen'.

In fact, listening to citizens is the meaning of good governance. Your very good excellently crafted policy may not be good to people. While leading does not mean taking into account every advice from people, it means listening to them. I would rather citizens mislead me and not officials. President Michael Sata has a chance to make a real governance difference."