Government should release Gabon report - Col Chanda

Government should release Gabon report - Col Chanda
By Allan Mulenga
Mon 13 Feb. 2012, 12:59 CAT

THE PF government should release the report on the Gabon air disaster, demands Colonel Gerry Chanda. In an interview yesterday shortly after laying wreaths on the burial site of the Zambian team that perished in Gabon in 1993, Col Chanda, who is the Lusaka Province minister said Zambians had the right to know the truth about the tragedy.

"The PF government has an obligation. If you remember in Parliament and outside Parliament, members of parliament from Patriot Front said it many times that the people, the families of these fallen heroes there, have the right to know what happened to their beloved ones. We have to if there is nothing to hide. Why hide the report? Tell me, why should we hide the report if there is nothing to hide? I am privy to some information which I cannot share with you unfortunately because I am bound by the official secrecy," he said.

Col Chanda, who shed tears upon laying wreaths, wondered why the MMD government remained silent over the matter.

"I am privy to some information. As I told you that I went to Gabon seven days after the team had perished. I had an opportunity to interview some of the Gabonese that were on that beach and they told us what happened. It was very an unfortunate mix-up which I cannot go into detail because the truth about the matter is that I can assure you there was nothing wrong with the plane, that is from me 110 per cent," he said.

"What I am saying is coming from years of experience. That plane is one that is built to float in air even when both engines are out. Now for a wing to come off, something must have been, an explosion, and who fired? Whatever was fired to break off that wing is what we should tell."

Col Chanda, who is also PF Kanyama Constituency member of parliament and a retired soldier, said he was emotionally attached to the Zambian team that perished in Gabon.

"It is so emotional for me because this team died on my birthday, 28th April. Coming here for me evokes a lot of sad memories. It is very difficult to hold back the tears. I don't subscribe to the concept that there was something wrong with that plane. Neither do I subscribe to the idea that it could have been pilot error because I knew the crew, I knew this pilot very well. That is one aircraft that even if you lost two engines, it was able to fly. It was one plane that if it landed on water, it will float like a boat. But the circumstances surrounding what happened in that Gabon incident, I think the government must come up with a clear explanation and tell the people, especially family members," said Col Chanda.