Maravi

Zukas accuses Rupiah of dishonesty

Zukas accuses Rupiah of dishonesty
By Kabanda Chulu
Thu 22 Mar. 2012, 12:59 CAT

RUPIAH Banda is being dishonest by opting to slip out of the country instead of making himself clear on various allegations levelled against him, says veteran politician Simon Zukas.

And Zukas, who is former Sikoongo member of parliament (1991-1996) in Kalabo, says the Barotse Agreement will gradually 'fall away' if the government can use the document as a basis to decentralise the whole country.

In an interview in Lusaka, Zukas, who also served as cabinet minister, said there were only two options needed to address former president Banda's predicament.

"We are discovering that a lot of corruption happened when he was in charge but whether former president Banda did it, like Frederick Chiluba looted the country, we don't know and whether his family and close friends took advantage of his presidency to engage in looting, we don't know. So, Banda is being disingenuous by preferring to take up lectureship to Boston University before answering these questions," Zukas said.

"We should not just let him go like that, as if he is a free man representing Zambia. So how do we deal with these questions surrounding his tenure? In my view, there are only two options: to consider lifting his immunity to pave way for thorough investigations or to allow him open up and say this is my position on this matter, for example, RP Capital and Zamtel saga, and related allegations. This way he will be free from accusations and I think it is his duty to make himself clear on all these allegations rather than slipping out of the country because it will not get him off the hook."

He said the PF government was capable of delivering services to people.

"But we are not seeing where we are going in terms of government giving economic vision. Of course, they are sorting out problems left by the MMD but people need to know the main focus of government, for instance, GDP has been increasing but this doesn't trickle down to ordinary people," Zukas said.

"So, government should outline its plans on how to address these issues and we want to know the main aim of their economic direction...I am sure they have but they should make it clear by giving people a direction."

Banda has recently claimed to be an innocent man who never committed any crime while in office.

On the restoration of the abuse of office clause in the ACC Act, Zukas said its removal widened the door for corruption to take root.

"It is not that corruption will be stamped out completely but the clause is a restraining factor that limits temptation by office bearers to engage in the vice, " he said.

On the parentage clause that prevents some Zambians to aspire for the presidency, Zukas said the current constitution-making process should remove the clause because it was discriminatory.

He said people should be allowed to stand for presidency irrespective of their parental background.

"Parentage doesn't decide who wins elections but people choose leaders based on ability to deliver and there are people with one parent born outside Zambia and have a wider perspective on issues and keeping them out is like depriving ourselves of possible good talents," Zukas said.

"I resigned from cabinet when Chiluba regime introduced a law to prevent Dr Kaunda from standing; so the clause should be removed since it is divisive by introducing two classes of Zambians and it limits the choice of candidates. I was MP for Sikoongo near Angola and it is possible for some people to have one parent having born from either Angola or Zambia and some people were born when birth records did not exist."

On the Barotse Agreement, Zukas said recommendations by the Chongwe commission of inquiry should be the basis for embarking on full decentralisation.

"I got to know about the agreement when I served as MP and I visited some of the most deprived areas. It is true Western Province is least developed but it has a long history of coherence as a tribal entity, even when colonialists came they found that they had structures like chiefs, advisors, councils and administratively developed. And it is clear the agreement is not for secession but for autonomy and the Chongwe recommendations give us chance to go for full decentralisation for the entire country," he said.

He said decentralisation was aimed at giving full autonomy to local authorities since they better understood the challenges facing their communities.

"But problems of decentralisation is lack of financial control hence structures must be put in place to avoid draining resources; so a good government will take this chance to give autonomy to all provinces and not only to Western and the agreement will gradually fall away as an issue," said Zukas.

"Secession is a pipedream that some individual clamour for but they don't face the fact the resources of province even food is insufficient so secession is not an issue but autonomy, yes."

Labels: CORRUPTION, RUPIAH BANDA, SIMON ZUKAS

posted by MrK @ 6:18 PM